ZDF Studios to distribute "Colonies in Conflict"

ZDF Studios has secured the global distribution rights for "Colonies in Conflict," with the exception of India.“Rajani and her team have produced a powerful, enlightening documentary, one that we are very proud to represent," Nikolas Huelbusch, Director Unscripted, ZDF Studios said. "The story of the unique Rockbees, never captured on film before, and their fight for survival is one that audiences everywhere will find engaging and relatable.”

"Colonies in Conflict" is directed and written by Rajani Mani, an award-winning filmmaker and environmental change-maker who co-founded Elephant Corridor Films as a collective space for meaningful and fearless narratives on human activities and the natural world. Her documentaries have been screened and awarded at prestigious events such as CMS Vatavaran Environment and Wildlife International Films Festival, The One World International Film Festival and The Planet in Focus Film Festival and others. The study of Apis dorsata,  their importance to our environment and their decline was born from observations in Mani’s own backyard. Last year, the 74-minute film was a finalist at Jackson Wild Media Awards and won the Best Independent Production Award at Rotterdam’s Wildlife Film Festival, among others. 

The feature length documentary examines, for the first time, the state of wild bees in a fast-developing Indian landscape.Honeybees, as prolific pollinators, are a keystone species that props up the ecological arc on which the survival of several species, including humans, depend. Human action is causing pollinator declines all over the world spelling disaster to nutritional security and the biodiversity of our ecosystems. Mani gives a first-person account of how expanding cities are wiping out native bee populations. She discovers that we have very little time to reverse the catastrophe we started, but every species stopped from extinction would help hedge our bets in an uncertain future.

The filming process took more than two years, and welcomed contributions from science, biology and taxonomy experts. “This project took root during the pandemic," Rajani Mani, Producer, Elephant Corridor Films said. "It was a rare opportunity to slow down and take in your surroundings and that’s when I became fascinated by this amazing species. My research, highlighting that the number of beehives in my own community had reduced to less than a quarter within seven years, made me realise that this is a local story with global consequences. We all have an obligation to do whatever we can to protect the environment and I sincerely hope the film makes people aware how fragile our ecosystem is and that everything we do to nature, good or bad, has an impact.”