Hive

HIVE, a Kosovan film is our first foreign language film of the season, which won all three main awards at the Sundance Film festival 2021.

Hive was inspired by the true story of Fahrije Hoti and her struggles to start an organic cottage industry with other Kosovo Albanian women widowed by Serbian forces during the 1998/1999 Kosovan War.

Deprived of income since her husband disappeared, Fahrije must provide for her family and sets about extending what she can make and sell beyond honey from her husband’s hives. Akin to bees in a hive, Fahrije and the other impoverished widows work hard collectively but struggle in their co-operative, set back by the patriarchal values of the surviving village men who threaten their venture. 

This is an inspiring story of human struggle to overcome oppression. Filmed with a handheld camera, the Guardian comments that Hive is ‘a richly intelligent drama in which every word and shot counts’.

Watch the trailer and see Mark Kermode’s review below

We look forward to seeing you.