20,000 Species of Bees

20,000 Species of Bees (2023) is a Spanish drama you can watch online on iFILM, the debut feature from director Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren. Over one Basque summer, an eight-year-old the world keeps calling a boy quietly insists on something simpler: she is a girl.

The child spends the holidays among the women of her family. Her mother is stuck on her own art and her own doubts, her aunt tends the hives and the wax, and her grandmother keeps the household running. Each of them is working out who she is — and beside them, the youngest finally tries on a name that fits. The film watches all this without raising its voice, letting glances and silences carry the weight.

Newcomer Sofía Otero took the Silver Bear at the Berlinale for this performance, the youngest winner of that acting prize in the festival's history. It's slow, tender cinema with no melodrama, aimed at anyone who loves close, observant European family drama. Stream 20,000 Species of Bees online on iFILM.