HOW TO BEE

How to Bee is the world’s first eco-conscious stop-motion animated feature film,  weaving real education on the life of bees into a narrative adventure for all ages. 

Combining character-driven storytelling with a hand-constructed world made from eco-friendly and non-toxic materials, the film offers an inside look at the lives of the little creatures who pollinate 75% of the world’s food supply.

The Story 

A hive should only have one queen, but this hive has two. When Phoebee is born, the second queen, she has two options: leave the hive or find another role. Though she chooses to renounce her birthright and stay, Queen Beeatrice deceives her and swarms with the colony. Enlisting the help of a drone bumblebee, Phoebee sets out to find her way back to her hive and prove she belongs.

The Mission 

The Sisters Bloom is an eco-conscious stop-motion animation studio based in  Kalispell, Montana. Our mission is to create stop-motion animated stories without harming humans or the environment by replacing standard practices that are toxic and wasteful with innovative, non-toxic, and eco-friendly alternatives.  

The best part about stop-motion is the real textures that come from the materials.  While contemporary stop-motion animation has become overly polished and  comparable to 3D animation, our studio embraces the natural imperfections of the medium.

Learn more about our mission and values at www.thesistersbloom.com

The Team 

Writer/Director/Producer | Melissa Bloom
Melissa Bloom is an artist, writer, and director passionate about living in alignment with nature. She studied film and animation at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts and has worked most notably on the Emmy-nominated Robot Chicken and Oscar-nominated American Hustle. After working for several years in the stop-motion animation industry, Melissa stepped away and embarked on a holistic health journey alongside her sister, learning firsthand that human health is directly related to our environment. She realized that it wasn’t the art form of stop-motion that  was the problem, but everything that went into that process. She founded The Sisters  Bloom to address those problems and prioritize the health of both humans and the  planet over the industry standard model that prioritizes profit. She believes that the world can be regenerated one industry at a time by reforming the artificial and destructive practices that have disconnected us from Nature. 

Consulting Producer | Melanie Coombs 
Melanie is a Film & Television Producer, whose credits include the Academy Award-winning short HARVIE KRUMPET in 2004, the Annecy Cristal-winning feature MARY AND MAX in 2009, as Co-Producer, the Academy Award-winning feature Guillermo del Toro’s PINOCCHIO in 2023, and the hit TV series IN THE KNOW in 2024. She was the Screen Producers Association of Australia ‘Feature Producer of the Year’ in 2009 and is a member of the Animation Branch of the Academy AMPAS. Her latest project, EARTHS TO COME, has been selected for the Venice International Film Festival 2024 

Consulting Line Producer | Eileen Kohlhepp  
Eileen is an award-winning stop-motion animator and producer with over two decades of experience spanning film, television, music videos, and commercials. Her diverse credits include acclaimed films such as Marcel the Shell with Shoes On and Anomalisa, as well as popular television series like Tumble Leaf, Family Guy, Robot Chicken, MTV’s Celebrity Deathmatch, and Daria. She has produced and animated campaigns for major brands, including Apple, LEGO, Honda, Vans, United Airlines, Sony Bravia, Kaiser Permanente, Land Rover, Target, Coinbase, and Meta. Her animation has appeared in videos for Fleet Foxes and Atoms for Peace. Some of Eileen’s work has been recognized globally, with pieces held in the permanent collections of the Museum of  Modern Art and the Louvre. She is based in Los Angeles, where she lives with her husband and their menagerie of cats. 

Director of Photography | Kier Atherton 
Kier is a cinematographer from Northwest Montana. He has filmed a range of award-winning films that have screened at Sundance, TIFF, IDFA, Hot Docs, and many more. He is a DP on the 2024 Big Sky Award-winning feature documentary, Bring Them Home. Kier has also filmed with Oscar-winning actor Rami Malek on Buster’s Mal Heart and for TV shows including 60 Minutes+, HBO’s Real Sports, 20/20, and Discovery Daily Planet.

How to Donate 

While you can use the link on this page to donate via PayPal, we would appreciate checks when possible to avoid additional fees. Please make checks payable to “MINT Film MT” with “How to Bee” on the memo line to ensure we receive your donation!

Send checks to:  
MINT Film MT
119 N 29th ST
Billings, MT, 59101  

If you would like to be credited as a donor in the film, please email growwithus@thesistersbloom.com with your name (as you’d like it to appear in the credits) and your donation amount. 

Thank you so much for your support!