NEW YORK — Ljubomir Stefanov and Tamara Kotevska had been in a hard-to-reach part of Northern Macedonia — about as far through the Oscars as possible — once they come upon the beekeeper that would be their topic inside their acclaimed documentary “Honeyland. ”

The filmmakers met Hatidze Muratova, a middle-aged woman who ekes out a hardscrabble and solitary existence harvesting honey with ancient, sustainable methods across the craggy mountainous landscape of the former Yugoslav republic while caring for her half-blind and bedridden mother in a modest home without electricity while working on a short video commissioned by a nature conservancy project. Continue reading →