New Nat Geo groundbreaking documentary 'Lion' follows pride of lions in Kenya for 4 years
A new four-part documentary series titled 'Lion' follows a single pride of lions in Kenya over a four-year period. The project, which features input from director Jon Favreau, aims to provide an unprecedented look at the life cycle and social dynamics of a lion family.
Why it matters
This documentary represents a significant advancement in natural history filmmaking by utilizing long-term observation to capture authentic animal behavior.
LOS ANGELES -- A new four-part nature documentary series tells a true story of family, courage and coming-of-age. It focuses on a lion cub who may become a lion king. "Lion" takes viewers on a journey involving that little cub and his family.
This docuseries is being touted as "groundbreaking natural history filmmaking." Director of photography Sophie Darlington explains why.
"Do you know what it is? It's being allowed to have four years to follow one pride of lions and to give complete control to them. They wrote the script. We just were there to capture it," Darlington said.
The crew shot for about 1,400 days - the most time ever spent following a single pride. It took that time to capture these lions in good times, challenging times and sad times while focusing on the cub named Kio - their future lion king.
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