In a quaint, strikingly beautiful village in the Basque Country, a sculptor named Ane, along with her three children, arrives at her mother Lita's home for a summer vacation surrounded by extended family and nosy neighbors. Ane and her mother's relationship is strained. Lita disapproves of her daughter's frayed marriage, career as an artist, and parenting of her often mischievous and obstinate children. Chief among them is her eight-year-old nicknamed Coco. Born biologically male, neither her birth-name nor her genderless nickname feel quite right, but it becomes clear that her birth name elicits immense pain and distress. Ane’s concern for her child grows as Coco becomes more withdrawn. Coco's only respite lies in the Basque hills, where Ane's aunt, Lourdes, tends to the family's beekeeping farm. Among the peaceful humming of bees and Lourdes' open-minded guardianship, Coco slowly begins to confide in family and friends her discomfort in her body, eventually voicing a desire to be treated as a girl. As Coco explores her own developing identity over the summer, Ane and the rest of her family in turn learn to accept her as she is. Featuring a stunning, award-winning performance by young lead Sofía Otero, 20,000 SPECIES OF BEES is a tender story of familial bonds and self-discovery.

Co-presented with Instituto Cervantes of Chicago