20.000 Arten von Bienen

The movie is extremely well-paced. It let's you connect to the characters on a very deep level. We need more movies like this.

The shots are beautiful and the acting is superb, especially considering the lead act is eight years old. A movie I can whole-heartedly recommend to anyone with an open heart and a love for the things that make us human.

It's difficult to reach 600 words without any spoilers for people who have not watched the movie, but just take my word that it's totally worth a watch. Especially if you are into excellent acting that let's you forget that you're actually sitting in a cinema.

This delicate and warm film is about gender dysphoria felt and expressed at quite a young age by an eight-year-old child, who is going on a family vacation to visit grandmother and great-aunt. We, as well as the child's mother and other family members, are gradually exposed to these very clear dysphoria expressions and the family's reaction to them.

A few people at the theatre where I watched this were leaving saying how heavy the subject is but I look at it in a different way. What is difficult is how rigid we are with our gender stereotypes and how very much easier and happier life could be without them. In the film, the child was free and happy to talk about her body and the way it works only with the family member who accepted the child, and at those moments the dysphoria was gone. Another thing I like about this careful and slow-paced film is the parallel storyline that had to do with sculpting. I could almost touch the intimacy of this art form and see how, as well as figures and statues, each and every one of us is sculpted by our families and our prejudices or our perseverance and self-acceptance.

Throughout the film, I grew increasingly amazed at the protagonist's acting - especially for an 8-year-old, she has an immense ability to convey deep emotions on a level I have not seen a child of that age do (at least not that I remember).

The movie itself was a bit of a surprise in the beginning, since I had not read the description and thought it would be a documentary about bees based on the title and picture at the festival I attended. Although very unsuitable for a morning screening considering the intense emotions and drama, it was an overall pleasant surprise that ingrained itself even deeper when I witnessed some of the audience crying and embracing one another after the screening. The film clearly speaks to what many can relate to in one way or another, and dramatizes this with a heart-throbbing achievement.

Wow! For an actor barely ten years old, this is a masterful performance from Sofía Otero. It's a complex family drama that deals with relationships and identity in a delicate yet potent fashion as a mother "Ane" (Patricia López Arnaiz) leaves her busy husband "Gorka" (Martxelo Rubio) behind and takes their three children on a trip to see her family. Outwardly, they are a normal enough family unit - they have a few financial worries and at times relationships can be a bit strained, but as we get to now them all a bit better, we discover that Otero's character - a young boy ("Aitor") by birth but not by nature is seeking the confidence internally and from those surrounding to truly become "Lucia". Of course this causes consternation amongst the loving, but confused, parents and family at large - apart from her pragmatic and affectionate, beekeeping, great aunt "Lourdes" (Ane Gabarain), who seems to appreciate that the choices being made now by the youngster are visceral and innate. The story allows us to come to our own conclusions about how we might deal with this scenario were we ever to face it - as a child, as a parent, as an extended family member - and, rather effectively here, as a best friend. It has an innocence to it and a poignancy that this young actor encapsulates skilfully and engagingly. Arnaiz, Gabarain and Itziar Lazkano as the grandmother "Lita" all add depth to the characterisations and the narrative here too. It can be a bit on the slow side at times, but somehow that doesn't detract too much from the considered style of storytelling going on here. It's thought-provoking and well worth a watch.

Sort of documentary style filming, lots of camera movement and close ups. Beautifully filmed, although I'd have liked more panoramics of the extraordinary Basque countryside.

I didn't really enjoy the story, although the interaction between the protagonist and his Grandmother and Great Aunt I enjoyed, I´d have milked that more. You don't need to go into gender to create interesting and deep relationships, I wasn't sure if he was a boy or a girl, for me it didn't matter, I just enjoy seeing relationships unfolding, Good movie.but I'd have enjoyed it more if gender hadn't been the main drive of it..