This film is supported by
UFO and Southern Documentary Fund

The Boys and the Bees

The Boys and the Bees follows a year in the life of a Black family on a small farm in rural Georgia. Through a patient, verité lens, the film moves at the pace of two young boys, alive with curiosity, as they wander fields, tend hives, and grow in their relationship with the land around them. Their parents, Eliza and Nehemiah Ray—partners in life, parenthood, and beekeeping—set out to reimagine Black family life, rooting it in the wisdom of the natural world. As they work toward restoring their homestead, the film traces their quiet efforts to raise their sons, Carver (6) and Aaro (4), close to the land, transforming the rhythms of daily life into a tender meditation on childhood, inheritance, and legacy.

From small, luminous moments—a frightened boy finding the courage to tend a beehive—a larger story unfolds: one of reparative healing and the deliberate work of building a family bound to the land. The Boys and the Bees is a tender yet radical portrait of self-determination, kinship, and love.

Director: Arielle Knight
Director of Photography: Fernando Rocha
Producer: Sean Weiner
Associate Producer:Alessandra Puig-Santana
Starring: Rays Family @raysdwild

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Festivals

This American Life Podcast

In Episode 881 of This American Life, host Ira Glass featured the short documentary The Boys and the Bees in the episode prologue.

A six-year-old boy makes an honest wish — and his father chooses to take it seriously. The result is a moving story about desire, listening, and connection.

Listen to the episode here