Who is Rajani Mani? Director of Documentary Colonies in Conflict

Filmmaker Rajani Mani is the director of the documentary Colonies in Conflict. The documentary premiered on May 22, World Biodiversity Day, at the Bangalore International Centre.

Rajani Mani's Colonies in Conflict is a 74-minute documentary focused on Apis dorsata, also known as rockbees or giant Asian honeybees. The documentary explores how this widely found species of honeybee adapted to urban landscapes

Colonies in Conflict also explores their role as pollinators and how they navigate the changing environment and world. It features scientists and researchers studying pollinators.

Who is Rajani Mani? Filmmaker and Director of Colonies in Conflict

• Rajani Mani is the filmmaker and director of Colonies in Conflict. She began her journey in educating herself about bees in 2018.
• Mani did not start off as an insect lover from her childhood. Her interest in honeybees came from the giant bee hives that can be seen in cities. When she lived in Bangalore, there were many beehives on the balconies.
  Mani began looking for information about the insects because people in her locality were using pest control or insect killing sprays to kill the bees.
  She was not able to find a lot and decided to create the film to curate interest in “underrepresented insect species, particularly honeybees”.
• Mani’s film is made from the perspective of the bees themselves. She said that “Most films are from the view of the honey hunters… nobody has considered the point of view of the bees.”
• Mani shot in Bengaluru and at coffee plantations and forests in Coorg for over two years. These are places where the bees are commonly found.
• There are humane ways to get rid of bees, one of them is to hire a bee relocator. In Mani’s film, she follows Venkat, a bee relocator.
  Mani believes it's important to go to great lengths to protect the colonies. She says “Honeybees are important pollinators, they will feed on almost any flower.” She added that colonies can have up to 40,000 honeybees and these colonies can forage more, feed more, and pollinate more.
• Mani hopes that after seeing Colonies in Conflict people will notice bees for the creatures they are, rather than the honey they produce.

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