CECIL: CHANNEL 4 TO AIR NEW DOCUMENTARY ON THE DEATH OF AFRICA'S BIGGEST LION

Film4 and Channel 4 Docs present CECIL, airing on Thursday 19 February on Channel 4.  This powerful, cinematic documentary investigates the death of Africa’s biggest lion, killed with a bow and arrow by American dentist Walter Palmer in 2015, and explores the complex moral questions and conflicting stories exposed in the aftermath.

From BAFTA-winning director Arthur Cary (Surviving 9/11, War in the Blood, The Last Survivors) and BAFTA-winning producer John Smithson (127 Hours, Touching the Void, Sherpa), this documentary brings to life a story that gripped the world. 

This was no ordinary lion. Cecil was once the biggest tourist attraction in Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park and part of an Oxford University research programme. The story of this killing went viral, and Cecil became a universal icon for endangered species everywhere, leading to his image being projected onto the side of the Empire State Building and Palmer feeling the force of cancel culture. 

Now, a decade after Cecil's death, the documentary moves beyond the headlines and explores the profound tensions that exist at the heart of Hwange National Park and surrounding areas. CECIL gives voice to a diverse range of perspectives including trophy hunters, safari operators, local communities, conservationists, and those directly entangled in the hunt and ensuing criminal proceedings.

The documentary probes the legal and moral complexities of trophy hunting, directly confronting the question: who truly benefits when nature is turned into an industry? In doing so, the film also interrogates the history of colonisation and Western assumptions about Africa’s National Parks.

CECIL was developed in association with Film4 and Channel 4 Docs and produced by Arrow Pictures (a Fremantle company).  Financed by Film4 and Vice News, it was commissioned for Channel 4 by Sacha Mirzoeff. Serial Maven Studios oversees all licensing and distribution.

Watch or stream on Channel 4 from Thursday 19 February.