The Filmmakers
Taggart Siegel
An independent filmmaker for 25 years, Taggart Siegel has produced and directed Emmy-nominated, award-winning documentaries and dramas that present vital perspectives rarely seen on mainstream media. Siegel is best known as the director of the 2006 grass-roots hit THE REAL DIRT ON FARMER JOHN, a critically acclaimed feature documentary about a maverick visionary farmer. THE REAL DIRT won 31 international film festivals awards and was released theatrically in the U.S. and around the world. THE REAL DIRT ON FARMER JOHN has been broadcast worldwide and aired in 2007 on the award-winning PBS series INDEPENDENT LENS. It was hailed by Roger Ebert as a, “A loving, moving, inspiring, quirky documentary” and by former Vice-President Al Gore as “Unbelievably special…a real and gripping story with insight and humor.” Siegel is also known for his award-winning films THE SPLIT HORN: Life of a Hmong Shaman in America, BETWEEN TWO WORLDS and BLUE COLLAR AND BUDDHA which capture the struggle of refugees in America. Siegel is the co-founder of Collective Eye, Inc., a non-profit media organization based in Portland, Oregon where he lives with his wife, Jenny and daughter, Olive.
QUEEN OF THE SUN: What are the bees telling us? was filmed over the course of 3 years and is the recepient of 10 International Awards.
Read the director’s statement about Queen of the Sun.
For more info on Taggart’s filmography goto collectiveeye.org
Jon Betz
Jon Betz is an award-winning independent documentary filmmaker and producer. His films have garnered 12 international awards including 10 for QUEEN OF THE SUN: What Are the Bees Telling Us?, his first feature-length documentary. Working together with Taggart Siegel, Betz recruited an award-winning production team and spent nearly 3 years producing and releasing QUEEN OF THE SUN. His films strive to dig deeply into the spiritual, emotional and ethical issues surrounding his characters and bring pressing social and environmental issues to the screen. His previous film, MEMORIZE YOU SAW IT, is an intimate autobiographical documentary journaling his time as an aid worker living with former-child soldiers in Eastern Uganda.
Betz is a graduate from Rhode Island School of Design where he received the Tiffany Rosen Scholarship Award for Excellence in Narrative Filmmaking and Fine Arts Award for Excellence in Film. In addition to his continuing role as Producer of QUEEN OF THE SUN he is also an advisory board member on a number of documentaries currently in production including BARGE (Ben Powell), FREE EVERY THURSDAY (Phil Busse) & OMELAS (Working Title, Jelani Memory). Betz also acts as Director at Collective Eye, Inc. a non-profit media production and distribution organization based in Portland, Oregon where he lives with his wife and 9-month old daughter.
Credits
- DIRECTED & PRODUCED BY
- Taggart Siegel
- PRODUCED & CO-EDITED BY
- Jon Betz
- ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS
- Donald Siegel
- Eric Stolberg
- George Mitchell
- Mike Quinn
- EDITORS
- Jon Betz / Taggart Siegel
- ORIGINAL SCORE
- Jami Sieber
- SOUND DESIGN
- Ryan Mauk
- CINEMATOGRAPHY
- Taggart Siegel
- ANIMATION
- Noah Dorsey
- Alyssa Timon
- Chris Rodgers
- Michelle Hwang
- Emma Tripp
- ADDITIONAL MUSIC BY
- Keith & Tanyia Hall & Omiza River
- ORIGINAL SCORE PRODUCTION AND MIXING
- Evan Schiller
Key Cast
- Michael Pollan – Author “Omnivore’s Dilemma”
- Gunther Hauk – Biodynamic Beekeeper & Farmer
- Vandana Shiva – Physicist
- Horst Kornberger – Philosopher
- Jeffrey Smith – Author “Seeds of Deception”
- Raj Patel – Author “Stuffed and Starved”
- Carlo Petrini – President, Slow Food International
- May Berenbaum – Entomologist
- Michael Thiele – Biodynamic Beekeeper, Melissa Garden
- Johannes Wirz – Molecular Biologist, Goetheanum
- Yvon Achard – Beekeeper and Bee Historian
- Gunther Friedmann – Demeter Biodynamic Beekeeper
- Scott Black – Biologist, Xerces Society
- Hugh Wilson – Botanist, Hinewai Reserve
- Jacqueline Freeman – Biodynamic Beekeeper & Swarm Catcher
- David Heaf – Biochemist and Biodynamic Beekeeper
