Spotlight on environmental film ‘Busy in the Battery’
The Fort Myers Film Festival will screen a number of environmental films this year, including three by filmmaker Sonny DePasquale. On Saturday, FMff will show Busy in the Battery followed by Protecting the Monarch Butterfly during the 3:30 p.m. Global Environmental Block 2.
The Battery
is a New York City park where staff and volunteers of an urban farm tend to the land and harvest crops for food relief. But humans aren’t the only ones helping in this effort. There’s another “hidden helper” buzzing around… bees. The neighboring BeeVillage helps to pollinate the crops in the 1-acre Battery 
Urban Farm, reflecting in a higher yield. The existence of honey bees in lower Manhattan traces all the way back to the Dutch settlers who arrived in New Amsterdam in the early 1600s. And it’s with a nod to that heritage that BeeVillage has painted its six beehives in the style of classic Dutch homes. 
But not only do the bees pollinate the crops, the beekeepers donate the honey they produce to charities, including Battery Urban Farm.
May 9, 2022
About the Author
Tom Hall is both an amateur artist and aspiring novelist who writes art quest thrillers. He is in the final stages of completing his debut novel titled "Art Detective," a story that fictionalizes the discovery of the fabled billion-dollar Impressionist collection of Parisian art dealer Josse Bernheim-Jeune, thought by many to have perished during World War II when the collection's hiding place, Castle de Rastignac in southern France, was destroyed by the Wehrmacht in reprisal for attacks made by members of the Resistance operating in the area. A former tax attorney, Tom holds a bachelor's degree as well as both a juris doctorate and masters of laws in taxation from the University of Florida. Tom lives in Estero, Florida with his fiancee, Connie, and their four cats.