[encoded data, 517037 characters]\" /></h2>\r\n\r\n<p><img alt=\"\" height=\"800\" src=\"https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/w8bC3BeO0Q3xkbAqVIrzbub1yVtEUJ19O56c0nX_v2i5zgu6tZ2KKI5ghj8nVOUjW09wXJaon5ZsqO__yFrKFPoR15VjBseDpK7ZxXOSGFpfbYn59WlxnqMCaUNFy2nLRbRg=s0-d-e1-ft#https://www.filmfestivals.com/files/images/u285291/TomerAlmogar1--%20OIFF.jpg\" width=\"534\" /></p>\r\n\r\n<p>(Photo courtesy of Christian Scholz / Filmfest Oldenburg)&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>\r\n\r\n<p>By LINDSAY R. BELLINGER&nbsp;</p>\r\n\r\n<p>&nbsp;</p>\r\n\r\n<p>\"King of Beasts\" may not be the easiest viewing experience, but it\'s definitely worthwhile. Six years in the making, this documentary follows Aaron Neilson, a Colorado hunting consultant and big game trophy hunter, as he prepares for his 14th lion hunt. It premiered in the majestic Staatstheater (State Theater) at the 25th edition of The Oldenburg International Film Festival. Co-directors/co-writers Tomer Almagor and Nadav Harel finished shooting back in 2016 but struggled to raise funding to cover post-production costs. Perhaps the the worldwide uproar surrounding the death of Cecil, the 13 year-old lion in Zimbabwe who was killed in 2015, caused some issues. It was fascinating to observe the world of trophy hunting through a fly-on-the-wall perspective, even more so knowing that the filmmakers are avid animal lovers. At times it almost felt more like a pure journalistic piece of filmmaking although the music was occasionally a bit too heavy-handed. The filmmakers\' intention&nbsp;wasn\'t really clear until the end cards when they called out trophy hunting and instead shifted the focus to animal conservation. For some viewers that may have been too late. The nature lovers who are more familiar and comfortable with David Attenborough style documentaries might find \"King of Beasts\" to be an unsettling affair. This film is a far cry from&nbsp;the average (nature) documentary.&nbsp; Not everyone was on board for quietly sitting back and listening to Aaron and his chums discuss the conservation efforts and aid to local economies that they see as positives coming from their hunting adventures in Tanzania. After the premiere, I definitely heard some grumbling from those who had hope for some sort of narration. The power of documentary filmmaking is in full force, even though the viewer is left to her or his own devices. It\'s a must-see film, regardless of one\'s feelings about trophy hunting. This highly-anticipated and controversial film took the unassuming quaint region in Northwest Germany by the guff. Some audience members were gasping, some walked out. That\'s the power of cinema.&nbsp;</p>\r\n\r\n<p>&nbsp;</p>\r\n\r\n<p>Sitting down to talk to Tomer Almagor was quite an experience. His passion for filmmaking and for lions shined through. He was excited to go into more detail about how they observed not only the wildlife in Tanzania but the hunters and locals. Almagor, much like the film, is less judgmental but rather open, asking the viewer to see trophy hunting for what it is, what we see as we follow around Aaron and his buddies. The film crew initially went into this project with the intention of exposing all of the awful, hidden things going on. Instead, they came out of it realizing that trophy hunting is not the biggest problem for lions and other wild animals throughout Africa. That makes this documentary all the more curious. It asks the viewer to take it upon her or himself to research and delve more into this topic. Many of us live in a world that is far too comfortable, far too caught up in tweets. We instantly react and call out something that pops up on social media. The international debate on animal conservation is as contentious as ever and this film is a welcome addition to the discussion. Let\'s just hope that enough people are willing to give it a shot.&nbsp; &nbsp;</p>\r\n\r\n<p>&nbsp;</p>\r\n\r\n<p><img alt=\"\" height=\"800\" src=\"https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/ZqOh4-jIKIqZA0cQXu5mwKVeE_8RbZr7BFOVCphUElx2pIP9dloiT0j0tRhTMWtrBrPSBaWxS3QRs9-NYZy55YmKCKHyH5KRk1DXDrhWa7pHQPQM3gPiaVeiWir91GWKN5TaWModdfPf_Q=s0-d-e1-ft#https://www.filmfestivals.com/files/images/u285291/TOMER_b%C3%A4rbelullmannfoto1.jpg\" width=\"600\" /></p>\r\n\r\n<p>(Photo courtesy of Bärbel Ullmann, taken at the world premiere)</p>\r\n\r\n<p>&nbsp;</p>\r\n\r\n<p><strong>Attending your world premiere was quite a visceral experience, sitting there in the Oldenburger Staatstheater with hundreds of strangers, not really knowing what to expect.&nbsp;</strong><strong>\"King of Beasts\"</strong><strong>&nbsp;was observational, less preachy than other documentaries. It really brought us into the savannah with Aaron Neilson, your protagonist. Last night before the premiere you said that it was a six-year long project. Can you talk about the early stages of that development process?</strong></p>\r\n\r\n<p>&nbsp;</p>\r\n\r\n<p>Tomer Almagor: Well, as I mentioned the idea was brought to my attention by the producer. I didn\'t know it still existed. I\'m a bit naive sometimes and I didn\'t realize that hunting existed in such an industrialized way with many, many hunters from all over the world. Except 70% of trophy hunters who go after lions are from the US. They go out there and shoot their lion trophy every year. So I was blown away by that as someone who cares about the environment and animals. I also have to say as a cinephile and a filmmaker I grew up on Tarzan movies and Westerns, you know tough men with guns. That appealed to me and I love Africa so I knew right away that there is something that is very cinematic but it\'s a tough subject. So now the situation was like, \"What kind of movie do we want to make?\" We were thinking about lions becoming extinct and so forth, so the first thing that came to mind was okay, we\'re making a cause movie. If we have to make similarities we could say \"Blackfish\" or \"The Cove\" and stuff like that. So we were thinking of bringing both sides to the table, you know the animal rights people and hunters and see how that goes.&nbsp;I want to mention here&nbsp;that Gabrielle is not here (at the interview) but she was an instrumental part of getting this to happen. She actually brought the project to me. She\'s carried this project through the years, when it was in remission through and through. Financing and all the other stuff. She is a major animal lover so for her it was very important that the film actually touches on the real problems and hopefully allows everyone to come to the table and create some kind of a solution.&nbsp;We always knew that there would be a lion hunter at the center of the film.</p>\r\n\r\n<p>&nbsp;</p>\r\n\r\n<p><strong>Yeah, you mean Aaron Neilson.&nbsp;</strong></p>\r\n\r\n<p>&nbsp;</p>\r\n\r\n<p>TA: Yeah, exactly. We didn\'t know it was going to be him. We knew it was going to be a lion hunter so we knew that would be the hardest thing to achieve. Because we come from...politically speaking I\'m a liberal so we didn\'t know how that\'s going to go. The first thing we had in mind was okay, we\'re going to go to the conferences. They have these huge conferences. This head of the organization, they have SCI (Safari Club International). They hold these conferences, on