What if, by forgetting the past, you might gain a future? What if, like the bumblebee, who flies not knowing its wings are too small to allow flight, the impossible might be possible?

Barney Snow (Elijah Wood), a stranger to himself, is not a stranger to paradoxes. The only amnesia victim in a Massachusetts advanced-care cancer ward, Barney has never been behind the wheel of a car, yet a red convertible is his only memory. This coupled and along with the confidence that he once played basketball, he knows that his name is Barney Snow. It is these traces of identity which are nurtured in experiments by Dr. Marie Harriman, a caring yet detached psychiatrist whose mission to reconstruct Barney's memory inspires the nickname Handyman (Janeane Garofalo).

Director Martin Duffy considers this film "a teenage One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" due to its emotional depth and bleak hospital setting.

Martin Duffy, Co-writer, Director
"This story offers a metaphor for being a teenager. In life you're told, 'This is who you are. This is what you do.' And there's a point at which you kick against that and make your own choices, your own truth. That's what eventually happens to Barney. He finds his own truth and crosses the threshold from boyhood to young manhood."

"I was first impressed by the intelligence of the story. These are young people with inner lives and real conflicts who are dealing with death. It's not often teenagers are portrayed as the complex people they are."

Martin Duffy is a veteran editor and made his directorial debut with The Boy from Mercury in which he explored the inner life of a nine-year old boy. Bumblebee is the first American film made by this Irish storyteller.