Early on in the making of Lions, Bones & Bullets we realised that impartiality and independence were essential for credibility and editorial integrity. The production had to be free of creative and editorial influence from all those outside the core filmmaking team. Compromise was not an option so it had to be the three of us, Richard, Anton and Jasmine working as true independents taking on a potentially unfriendly multi million dollar industry. We established a new production company in the UK, Jagged Peak Films Ltd to produce the film, and retained full ownership of the production by putting up over half the production budget ourselves. The remaining funding was secured from foundations, grants, and private donors and was always accepted on the strict understanding that there were no editorial strings attached. This allowed us to follow our own path and come to our own conclusions unswayed by bias or vested interests. After three years of filming and research we can now tell the story our way, and having followed our guiding principles of fairness and integrity we can present our investigation with confidence and pride.
It is only through the overwhelming support we have received from friends, family, industry professionals, organisations and fans that we managed to fund a big part of the production costs. But there still is a long way to go. Broadly speaking, there are 3 phases in documentary film making: Concept, research and filming, then post-production, and then finally marketing and distribution. We have successfully completed the first 2 phases and are now well into phase 3. Making a good enough film was the first hurdle and now the second, and equally important challenge, is to get the film in front of the largest possible global audience. Our outreach strategy involves a 2-year festival circuit, traditional broadcasting and community screenings, all of which will help spark a global debate about lion farming and keep it open. The international festival premiere of Lions, Bones & Bullets will be at the 60th Monte-Carlo Television Festival in June 2021, and it will mark the start of the festival circuit. We hope to have traditional broadcasting available by the end of 2021 or beginning of 2022. In parallel to this, we will also aim to reach smaller communities, who are affected by lion farming or can influence directly on its future, by offering private screenings. To be able to do all of this, we will need the active support of our most devoted supporters.
Do you want to join? See below how you can be part of our global outreach.
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