Is it ethical for documentary filmmakers and producers to get involved in the lives of their subjects? It’s an age-old question that’s getting new life following a recent report from The New York Times that details the various ways in which the team behind the acclaimed 2019 documentary “Honeyland” has gotten involved in the life of their film’s subject.
Atanas Georgiev, the film’s producer, told The Times his team “decided to break [the] rule” of not engaging with their subject after the documentary’s success meant they could change the her impoverished lifestyle for the better.“Honeyland,” directed by Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov, is set in Macedonia and follows the life of the region’s last nomadic beekeeper Hatidže Muratova, Much of the film tracks the tension that develops between Muratova and Hussein Sam, a more industrial beekeeper whose methods for collecting honey stand in opposition to
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