20000 SPECIES OF BEES (F/F) (2023) 

Synopsis

“How come everyone knows who they are and I don’t?” During a summer in the Basque Country among the beehives, an eight-year-old child explores his identity alongside the women of his family, who at the same time reflect on the multi-layered complexities of their own lives. Family traumas start to roll out of the closet while the mother fully accepts her young child’s transformation and also sees it as a stand against an intolerant world. This richly textured chronicle of an 8-year-old’s gradual transitioning, and the effect it has on a family, is ultimately about tolerance and acceptance as much as it is a fascinating study of womanhood that extends beyond motherhood. At the film’s 2023 Berlinale premiere the young and endearing Sofia Otero won the Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance at the festival, while the film itself received the Prize of the Guild of German Art House Cinemas, and the Berliner Morgenpost Reader’s Jury Award.