Queen of the Sun

In this eye-opening documentary, filmmaker Taggart Siegel examines the phenomenon of colony-collapse disorder, in which honeybee populations vanish for no reason. Theories, solutions and potential consequences are explored., In 2006, beekeepers around the world began reporting a strange and troubling phenomenon — the population of their hives was shrinking dramatically, with the insects disappearing for reasons unknown to their minders, and in time close to a third of the world’s honeybee population had seemingly vanished. While this was of great concern to people who produced honey for market, they were not the only ones worried; bees help pollinate many major cash crops, including a variety of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and beans, and what’s come to be known as Colony Collapse Disorder has far-reaching consequences for the international agricultural community. With bees involved in the growth of 40 percent of the world’s food, restoring the global bee population is of crucial importance, and filmmaker Taggart Siegel examines the role of bees in agriculture and the ecosystem, leading theories about CCD, possible solutions, and the theories of Rudolf Steiner in the documentary Queen of the Sun. In the 1920s, Steiner was a leading biologist who believed the crossbreeding of honeybees could lead to the doom of the species; over 80 years later, are Steiner’s notions becoming reality? Queen of the Sun was an official selection at the 2010 Seattle International Film Festival.