By Marta Balaga
Angelina Jolie and singer Ellie Golding want the audience to “Bee Wild.” The new environmental doc series, currently in post-production, will world premiere at SXSW London. It’s directed by Rebecca and Josh Tickell.
“Ellie Goulding is an amazing humanitarian. She has done so much to further important causes, as has Angelina Jolie. Ms. Jolie has a particular interest in bees due to her nonprofit work in Cambodia, where native bees are important to the indigenous community there. We are so honored to have them both involved in this project,” Josh Tickell shared with Variety.
Rebecca and Josh Tickell produce alongside Eva Kruse. The filmmaking duo, also behind “Common Ground” and “Good Fortune,” has already built a “robust” school and educational program around the series.
“Just as we have done with our other films, bees resonate on a deep level with young people, who also seem to know intrinsically there are issues with the way our society has managed the ecosystems of planet earth and there are inherently better ways to do most things.”
Pollinators, including bees, are critical for maintaining biodiversity and maintaining our food supply, underlined Tickell.
“These small creatures have such a pivotal role in our lives, and they are also ‘the canary in the coal mine,’ in a way. They are an indicator of the health of our planet. They are really sending us a warning message, luckily, one that we still have time to interpret and if we listen in time, we can avert larger problems.”
They first pitched a project around bees almost 10 years ago.