Chapter 16 - Techno-Aesthetic Sustainability in the Audiovisual Praxis

By considering the debut feature-length documentary Honeyland (2019) by Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov, this contribution focuses on the sustainability in the audiovisual praxis. The North Macedonian environmental documentary — which chronicles the life of Hatidže Muratova, one of the  last European female wild beekeepers — is an ideal example of the so-called ecocinema that can also be discussed from an ecocritical approach and an eco- materialist perspective simultaneously. Moreover, my contribution aims to show how the ecological side of Honeyland relates not just to the narrative of an ac- tual issue, but also to the achievement of a sustainable cinematic practice. By examining the making of Honeyland in terms of production, storytelling, and techno-aesthetics, I aim to detect its “film ecology”, i.e., the ways Kotevska and Stefanov, together with cinematographers Fejmi Daut and Samir Ljuma, create a cinematic practice that acknowledges the environment, adapts to it, and is inspired by it: visual solutions, logistic limitations, crew equipment, shooting schedules, cameras typologies, and lighting processes all reveal indeed an eco- logical and sustainable consciousness in filmmaking.