HEREFORDSHIRE’S award-winning film maker John Bulmer will reveal the intriguing story of an African honey-gatherer and his wife when he screens Beehives and Runaway Wives at Borderlines Film Festival on Thursday, March 26.

Beehives features Miangu, a member of the remote Sheko people, and his domestic problem, in faraway Ethiopia: it took John three days by car and four days by mule to reach the tribe.

“There was a time in the 1980s when ethnographic documentaries were viewed like wildlife films,” says John.

“Things changed with series like the BBC’s Under The Sun and the secret was to find an interesting character in a remote setting and follow the story through.”

John’s second appearance at Borderlines – last year’s screen talk attracted a large audience – marks a busy year for the Monnington film-maker who will be speaking at Hay Festival later this year and is in the throes of preparing for a retrospective exhibition of photographs for Hereford Photography Festival.

“I was working as a stills photographer in the 60s, mainly for the Sunday Times Magazine,” says John.

He moved into film-making in the 80s and, by the 1990s, was journeying to the far ends of the world for films like Beehives.

Now John has settled for the quiet life back at Monnington Court, where he lives with his wife, artist Angela Conner.