Neon has acquired the North American rights to “Honeyland,” the award-winning documentary from Macedonian filmmaking duo Ljubomir Stefanov and Tamara Kotevska.
The deal marks Neon’s fifth acquisition out of this year’s Sundance Film Festival, where “Honeyland” received the world cinema grand jury prize: documentary, world cinema documentary special jury award for cinematography, and world cinema dramatic special jury award for originality.
The documentary is set in an isolated mountain region deep within the Balkans, where a beekeeper lives with her ailing mother in a village without roads, electricity or running water. She’s the last in a long line of wild beekeepers, eking out a living farming honey in small batches to be sold in the closest city, four hours’ walk away. Her peaceful existence is thrown into upheaval by the arrival of an itinerant family, with their roaring engines, seven rambunctious children, and herd of cattle.
Guy Lodge praised “Honeyland” in his review for Variety: “As a plain environmental allegory blossoms without contrivance from the cracks, Stefanov and Kotevska’s ravishingly shot debut accrues a subtle power that will be felt by patient festival audiences, though only refined boutique distributors need apply.”
Stefanov and Kotevska’s debut feature was produced and edited by Atanas Georgiev and stars Hatidze Muratova, Nazife Muratova, Hussein Sam, Ljutvie Sam, and Mustafa Sam.
Submarine Entertainment is handling sales. The deal was negotiated by Neon and Submarine on behalf of the filmmakers.
Neon also bought the rights to Alejandro Landes’ cinematic thriller “Monos,” Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala’s horror film “The Lodge,” Abe Forsythe’s “Little Monsters,” and Julius Onah’s “Luce.”