U of Ideas of General Interest -- February 2000
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Contact: Jim Barlow, Life Sciences Editor (217) 333-5802; [email protected]
INSECT FEAR
The buzz at this year's film fest will be coming from the stars
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- "Bee" movie lovers will have a honey of a time Saturday, Feb. 26, at the 17th annual Insect Fear Film Festival at the University of Illinois. The focus for the entomological film extravaganza will be one of nature's most helpful but frequently feared creatures -- bees.
"Bees are extremely familiar. They are a pre-sold antagonist," said May Berenbaum, head of the entomology department. "Bees have among the most sophisticated repertoires of behavior of all invertebrates. They are in many cases cued by chemicals and thus easily manipulated, not only by beekeepers but also by filmmakers. Bees also are cheap and available."
Enter the low-budget film industry, which has used bees in both big and little screen horror stories. Never mind that in nature bees are responsible for such useful products as honey, royal jelly, and propolis (a substance that protects against harmful bacteria, viruses and fungi). They also pollinate about 33 percent of foods destined for human consumption. On film, bees are evil.
This year's made-for-TV lineup will feature two feature length films:
o "Terror Out of the Sky," a 1978 tale of African killer bees returning to New Orleans (where they previously had appeared in the "The Savage Bees"). A busload of children is a prime target and a cast including Efrem Zimbalist Jr. and Dan Haggerty does battle with the swarm.
o "Wax or the Discovery of Television Among the Bees," a 1991 cult film "flatly narrated in dull monotone," says Berenbaum. Bees take over the intellect of a bee-keeping hobbyist who makes gunsight displays at a flight-simulation factory in New Mexico. "A surreal video dreamscape," said The New York Times of the David Blair creation; Timothy Leary called it "a treat for the eyeballs." Berenbaum says the film will become the most bee-wildering one ever shown in the festival's history.
Two sci-fi television shows also will be featured: "ZZZZZ," an "Outer Limits" story that first aired in January 1964, starring Phillip Abbot and Joanna Frank. Intellectually advanced bees mutate one of their own into a beautiful female entomologist, whose mission is to mate with a researcher to create a strain capable of destroying all humans; and "Herrenfolk," a 1996 "X-Files" episode starring David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson and Roy Thinnes. Mulder visits a Canadian ginseng farm, finding cloned children (one is his long-lost sister) who gather pollen to support an enormous bee colony.
Doors will open at 6 p.m. at Foellinger Auditorium, 709 S. Mathews Ave., Urbana (south end of the Quad) for viewing exhibits, including honey-tasting, a bee "waggle dance" demonstration and an observation hive. Admission is free. Between the films, a variety of bee-related broadcasts will be aired, including cartoons, commercials and segments of variety shows featuring bees.
Berenbaum started the festival as a way to educate people about insects and entomologists by focusing on the inaccurate and often ridiculous attributes given to them in films. Visitors are told what to expect -- the mistakes of insect anatomy and dumb dialogue -- before each film is shown.
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