The Pollinators

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The Pollinators

Q&A with director Peter Nelson and producer Sally Roy

Thousands of semi-trailers crisscross the country in the dead of night delivering goods through the darkness to stores, warehouses, and factories nationwide. But some of them carry an unsuspected and highly unusual cargo—honey bees. Tens of billions of them are transported back and forth from one end of the United States to the other in a unique annual migration that’s indispensable to the feeding of America.

One out of every three bites we eat and the growth of almost all our fruits, nuts and vegetables, would be impossible without pollination from bees. This documentary presents a fascinating and untold story: talking to farmers, scientists, chefs, and academics along the way to give a broad perspective about the threats to honey bees, what it means to our food security, and how we can improve it.

"Here is a movie that presents an intelligent vision of nature. What’s pleasing to the eye is pleasing to the earth — a sentiment the film rigorously supports with science."
Teo Bugbee, The New York Times

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Q&A with director Peter Nelson and producer Sally Roy
Wednesday, Apr. 24 2024, 7:00
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  • Peter Nelson, the director, director of photography and co-producer of The Pollinators, is a veteran director of photography with more than 25 years’ experience. His work, known for its naturalistic and elegant style, has encompassed everything from narrative feature films and documentaries to short films and commercials. Among his many credits are the Emmy Award-winning documentary Art & Copy, Michael Moore’s Oscar-nominated Sicko, and documentary work for PBS, HBO, National Geographic, Discovery and the BBC, as well as commercials for IBM, Google and ESPN/NASCAR. Nelson’s photographs illustrate the Simon & Schuster book At Balthazar, about the iconic New York restaurant. His fascination with honey bees comes from a passion for nature, the environment and his own 30 years as a backyard beekeeper in upstate New York. His short film, Dance of the Honey Bee, has been seen worldwide via PBS and YouTube. He is a lieutenant and president of his local volunteer fire department and co- founder of Stony Kill Films with his wife, Sally Roy.
  • Sally Roy, producer of The Pollinators, had produced both fiction and non-fiction features in the United States and abroad. For the past seventeen years, she worked with legendary journalist Bill Moyers as executive producer of the weekly series Bill Moyers Journal and Moyers & Company, as well as the Emmy Award-winning limited series Healing and the Mind with Bill Moyers. Sally’s other credits include co-producing the Disney non-fiction feature film Endurance with Terrence Malick and Edward R. Pressman; producer credits on The Kid Stays in the Picture, a profile of producer Bob Evans; the independent features Ed’s Next Move and Pipe Dream; and work as line producer on many documentaries for British television, including Tony Bennett’s New York. Roy also was post-production supervisor for the motion picture of Mel Brooks’ Broadway smash, The Producers.

This film is part of the Focus On Nature series.



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