EXCLUSIVE: POV Shorts has acquired The Boys and the Bees, the Oscar-contending documentary directed by Arielle Knight that won the Grand Jury Prize for nonfiction short at Sundance. The film produced by Knight and Sean Weiner offers “an intimate portrait of a Black family on a small farm in rural Georgia, sharing their love of nature and beekeeping while restoring their homestead.”
POV Shorts also announced that Oscar-nominated filmmaker RaMell Ross (Hale County This Morning, This Evening; Nickel Boys) and Emmy winner Stacey Reiss (The Andy Warhol Diaries, The Eagle Huntress) are joining the project as executive producers. In addition to winning Sundance, which qualified The Boys and the Bees for Oscar consideration, the documentary has won awards at the Atlanta Film Festival, Nevada City Film Festival, Ouray Film Festival in Colorado, and Salute Your Shorts in Los Angeles. It also screened as an Official Selection at DC/DOX, the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in Telluride, CO, Sheffield DocFest in the UK, and True/False Film Fest in Columbia, MO.
The film centers on brothers Carver Ray, 6, and Aaro Ray, 4, as they learn important life lessons from their parents, Eliza and Nehemiah Ray, who envision their farm as a place of bounty and refuge for their boys and successive generations of the family. Some of the lessons relate specifically to beekeeping (Carver bravely announces at one point that he would like to be stung by a bee, so he will no longer be the only family member lacking that distinction).
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“What an absolute joy to join The Boys and the Bees team,” said Ross. “I was taken back by the film, its gift of time, its abundance of pathos, and the space to witness the Ray family emerge into themselves. I think there is something elevated about this observed tale, something almost mythical in its unfolding. It’s also just a space where the personal, the poetic, and the larger history of Black communities in America can all exist simultaneously.”
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Reiss added, “We can all learn so much from this exquisitely crafted film — the value of family, our relationship with the natural world and the bonds that hold all of us together. The kindness and trust displayed between Arielle and the Ray family demonstrates her astute ability as a filmmaker and talented storyteller. I’m very proud to support her and her film.”
Knight previously directed A Song of Grace in 2021 and she has contributed her producing talents to Sons of Detroit (2025), Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project (2023), and Beba (2021).
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“This film is an offering to the South, to Georgia, where I grew up, and to those brief, awe-filled moments of youth,” Knight observed. “It’s a testament to the power of cinema to widen our collective imagination — offering a more expansive representation of Black boyhood unburdened by stereotypes.”
The Boys and the Bees is a GoodKnight Films and Untitled Filmmaker Org (UFO) co-production.
Producer Sean Weiner, co-founder and co-director of UFO, commented, “The Ray family brings so much joy to the heart of this beautiful short film, which explores how we connect with those around us—whether they are our closest family or the animals with whom we share this planet. What is truly moving is how the Ray family’s warmth radiated beyond the camera and into the care with which Arielle and her team crafted this story. The spirit of collaboration and care permeated the entire project, and our team at UFO felt incredibly lucky to have been welcomed into this very special creative process.”
The acquisition deal was negotiated by Opal H. Bennett for American Documentary/POV Shorts.
“The Boys and the Bees is a beautifully observed portrait about the small acts of courage that make a person — from a boy beekeeper’s rite of passage to parents choosing a life rooted in the land,” noted Bennett, executive producer of POV Shorts and senior producer at POV. “It’s the kind of film we want to platform at POV Shorts and Arielle Knight is the kind of filmmaker we want to champion.”
The Boys and the Bees is directed by Arielle Knight and produced by Knight and Sean Weiner. The director of photography is Fernando Rocha; editors are Sean Weiner and Omar Guzman. Sound design is by Thomas Becka. Executive producers include RaMell Ross, Stacey Reiss, and Opal H. Bennett, Erika Dilday, and Chris White for American Documentary/POV.
POV Shorts launched in 2018 as one of the first PBS series “dedicated to bold and timely short-form documentaries.” The series has broadcast Emmy Award winner The Love Bugs, Academy Award winner Days of Waiting, Academy Award-shortlisted films A Broken House and Águilas, and Emmy-nominated Earthrise, Water Warriors, and The Changing Same.
