Student Academy Awards Series Part 9: Keeper - Hannah Rafkin

Keeper, dir. Hannah Rafkin

In the midst of one of the world’s biggest cities, New York City, one family takes what is typically a rural hobby and makes it work in an urban setting. Flynn is a former marine who on a whim decided to take up beekeeping in his apartment. He made beekeeping a family business by also teaching his daughters Destiny and Alaura how to be keepers. Then, he created Boogie Down Bronx Honey, his local brand of honey, produced in the middle of the Big Apple. Flynn describes beekeeping as a state of mind, an activity that calms his nerves daily. He works night shift as security and immediately begins beekeeping after his shift, often still wearing a suit and tie. 

During Alaura’s summer break from college, where she studies Canine Training and Management, Flynn starts investigating a probable case of oropharyngeal cancer. After a positive biopsy, he is forced to take some time off work and beekeeping to undergo chemotherapy and radiotherapy. His diagnosis changes the family dynamic dramatically. As her dad is a single father, Alaura becomes responsible for his medical treatments while Destiny is away. It soon becomes an exhausting and challenging battle as she has to train dogs, model for the brand Timberland, and ensure all of her father’s medical needs are met.

Keeper reveals itself to be a multi-layered title. It suggests a literal application of the word, while the director, Hannah Rafkin, develops her film in three different contexts. Firstly, it’s about beekeeping, the activity that Flynn and Alaura have fallen in love with. Hannah uses the films opening scenes to show why beekeeping is so meaningful to them. It is a central topic that molds the emotional core of the story. 

A second context is Flynn’s ability to keep going and keep a positive attitude. Just as the bees are being attacked by moths and mites, Flynn is being attacked by cancer. When Flynn is unable to continue beekeeping because he does not have enough strength to lift an arm or even his head some days, you can feel his disappointment. However, he is such a positive and engaging subject that we never hear him complain.

A third expression of the film’s theme of “Keeper” is Alaura’s leadership in her family. Hannah is respectful enough not to cast Destiny, the older sister, as an ungrateful or unloyal person. Rather, she is portrayed as absent in a significant and difficult moment for the Flynns. Even though Alaura vocalizes her frustration with being alone in helping her father, Hannah never allows Alaura's point of view to paint Destiny as a bad person. She is human enough to understand that everyone deals differently with difficult situations. Similarly to the beehives, the family works to maintain stasis in its hive, even when everything seems lost. 

Flynn has made peace with the possibility of death and he vocalizes that. His desire to live, however, wins out. Every moment he is on the screen, his passion for life is obvious. Keeper is an emotional rollercoaster about two people dealing with life’s hardships and searching for balance. The result is a touching film that inspires reflection on the value of life. Hannah produced Keeper as her thesis for the School of Visual Arts. It won the gold medal at this year’s Student Academy Awards and qualified for the Best Documentary Short category at the 97th Academy Awards.

Review by: Pedro Lima