If You Believe In Me
Director: Brandon Bloom
United States, 2024, 14 min
Shooting Format:Digital
Festival Year:2025
Category:Documentary Short
Genres:Drama, Character Study, Nature, Documentary
Synopsis
An eccentric bee rescuer takes harassment and prejudice head on with the help of his goats.
What if Sisyphus loved pushing that rock up the hill? If You Believe In Me is a shambolic portrait of bee rescuer Dael, a charming micro celebrity who can't help but make things as difficult as possible for himself. We watch as he scatters himself across Southern California, saving bees, educating, and making a name for himself at Venice beach, the Hollywood sign, and everywhere in between and around.
His battles are a creation of his own, but that's okay with him. It keeps the rust at bay and allows him to create his own rules so he can live his life on his own terms; Off the grid, with a flawed altruism aimed at nature.
About the director
Brandon Bloom is Los Angeles based documentarian. His projects have taken him across the globe to the Philippines and Myanmar, into Appalachia, under bee hives, and through traffic on the I-5 to a small art school for intellectually disabled adults in Anaheim. He strives to tell stories about how we cohabitate, our relationships with the space we occupy, and the communities we find ourselves in along the way.
Filmmaker's note
If You Believe In Me is a film that tries to match the speed in which its subject moves. It was a busy summer for Dael; countless rescue jobs, goatscaping jobs, the launch of his mobile university, an ongoing conflict with the sheriff's who confiscated his boat. But is this different than any other few weeks in his life? The charm of this film started to reveal itself when every promise made to me was broken. It kept me on my feet, engaged, and taught me how to be flexible with my expectations and visions.