Game of Lions

A film by Beverly and Dereck Joubert

Narrated by Jeremy Irons

Game of Lions has just won the award for Best Feature Film at the 2014 Wildlife Conservation Film

Every time you see a pride of lions it is usually made up of a male and about eight females, and yet they are born in equal numbers, males to females.

What happened to the other seven males? It is a mystery that has stumped conservationists and scientists for years, and many just relegate the explanation to "they become nomads." But even then, what happens?

As a study and film of those lost boys, this is the hardest to follow and reveal because some of them do indeed become lions with no fixed abode, and wander far and wide and have great adventures.

No one has taken on a project as daunting as this before, starting out with so many unknowns, but discovering the hidden lives of males before they become kings. This is really a game of kings in many ways, as each bloodline fights for its ultimate survival and right to win a pride.

Those that do not survive are the noble offspring that fate or natural selection simply determined would be dead ends in their particular family tree. Each survivor however, is the result of hard battles against hunger, attack by older males, run-ins with different nomads all trying to win the ultimate prize: life.

The film is shot in HD, directed and filmed by Dereck Joubert, Produced by seven time Emmy Award team of Beverly and Dereck Joubert, with sound and photography by Beverly, edited by Susan Scott, and narrated by Jeremy Irons for National Geographic Television and Channels.