BYkids: BEEKEEPER is a finalist at the MY HERO 20th Film Festival

In his film, BEEKEEPER, Keith Griffith III, 15, shares the healing power and ecological importance of beekeeping. Keith explains the essential role of pollinators in the environment and in food production. The film is part of Keith’s mission to spread the word about the ecologically critical honeybee and to explain how rising temperatures, habitat loss, and pesticides have disrupted bees’ ecosystems, threatening their very existence.

Keith developed an interest in beekeeping at age 11 when both of his parents were incarcerated. To help Keith cope with stress, his uncle taught him how to care for a bee colony, how to harvest honey and the importance of pollinators for food production and the environment. Now, Keith has become a mental health and environmental advocate and gives workshops and talks in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. Guided by documentary filmmaker Evan Mascagni, Keith illuminates what learning about and caring for bees has taught him about cooperation, community and emotional well-being.

Keith and his DadBYkids

What started as a hobby, encouraged by his beekeeping uncle, soon became a passion. The young entrepreneur also founded Beeing2gether, a company that sells bee-inscribed merchandise, raw honey, and actual hives. He’s also written a book about the benefits of bees, aptly titled Honey Bees & Beekeeping: A Mental Health Miracle within which Keith shares his testimony and encourages everyone to reunite with nature through Beekeeping and the endangered Honey Bee. 

Said Keith: “I wanted to make this film because my family and I have a story to tell. As a beekeeper, I’ve learned that honeybees consistently act in social ways that benefit the entire hive—even at the sacrifice of individual gain. They are inherently altruistic, and they are great examples for understanding the significance of symbiotic relationships.”

BYkidsKeith 

Keith was mentored by documentary filmmaker Evan Mascagni*. Said Mascagni, “Not a lot of people ‘get their flowers while they can still smell them,’ and what I love about this film (and Keith’s family) is that they aren’t shy to express their love, gratitude, and admiration for one another. They are a model for us all to better understand the interconnectedness of ourselves, our family, and the planet. As Keith and his family always say, ‘We’re better off Beeing2gether.’”

*Mascagni is a filmmaker from Kentucky. He most recently directed and produced Building a Bridge, which premiered at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival and was executive produced by Martin Scorsese. Evan co-founded the NYC-based Player Piano Productions, where his most recent films have appeared on Sundance TV, AMC+, Al Jazeera, and PBS and have been featured in the New Yorker, Rolling Stone, and Hollywood Reporter, among others.

Evan joined BYkids as a mentor in 2019. He produced Against the Current as part of BYkids Season 3, where he mentored Daunnette Moniz-Reyome, a Native American teen activist. AGAINST THE CURRENT  - Native American teen activist Daunnette Moniz-Reyome shares her family’s journey to retain the sacred rituals and values of their culture in the wake of centuries of loss from disease, war and government policies.

BYkids is a non-profit organization that mentors young people to create short documentaries to tell their stories through film and share the realities of global inequality and injustice on the world stage.

Said Holly Carter, Founder and Executive Director, “We give kids agency to inspire, empower, and enact change. Kids learn citizenship through empathy, using film as a starting point for understanding. By giving kids the tools and mentoring to make documentary films about their lives and packaging those films for a wide American audience, BYkids gives voice to youth from diverse cultures, and encourages international understanding and engagement by giving viewers concrete ways to respond.”

Each year, the organization's Story Selection Committee, which comprises UNICEF and a group of nationally-recognized journalists, filmmakers, teens and non-profit leaders, creates a list of potential stories from which five are chosen. Each story is then given to a BYkids’ Film Mentor who spends a month helping the young person make the film. BYkids also partners with public television, Discovery Education, CBS, and PenPal Schools which ensures the films reach millions of viewers.

Other BYkids finalists:

RETURN DATE: UNKNOWN  directed by 17-year-old Tymur Tsapliienko.

This film is about Tymur who loves playing basketball and dreams of becoming a pilot, but those dreams have been placed on hold as Tymur is also a refugee forced to leave Ukraine when the Russian army invaded his country. Now longing for his friends and family, his school, and his home, Tymur embarks on a journey from Germany through Poland to see his father, a war journalist who was injured during a Russian offensive. With guidance from film mentor and actor Rom Barnea, Tymur interviews fellow refugees, examining the devastation of war and displacement, the connection between war and fossil fuel dependence, and the ways in which people find solidarity and hope during times of crisis.

SEEDS OF LIFE directed by Diya Payal. Diya is a 14-year-old from India who loves science, nature, and spending time with her family. While assisting her grandparents on their rural farm in the foothills of the Himalayas during summer holidays, she grew passionate about plants and the importance of biodiversity. Mentored by filmmaker Camilla Becket, Diya interviews farmers, visits a community seed bank, and celebrates Hindu traditions with her family. Along the way, she explores how climate change and industrial agriculture are threatening plant species diversity, shines a light on sustainable farming techniques, and examines the ways in which food, family, and farming are connected to her spiritual and cultural relationship with the natural world.

ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE directed by: Helena Marschall. 20-year-old Helena Marschall is one of Germany’s most prominent youth climate activists, having co-created “Fridays for Future Germany,” a global youth-led climate awareness movement inspired by Greta Thunberg and other young activists. Mentored by filmmaker Anja Baron, Helena documents how she and fellow activists protest a mining company’s plan to bulldoze a village and shares her passion for climate justice and the power of youth activism.