Oscar-nominated director Ed Perkins trawled through hundreds of hours of footage of Princess Diana in search of moments he hoped would offer new perspective on her life and public image, 25 years after her death.
His new film “The Princess” relies entirely on archive video to trace Diana’s life from a timid teen to her death on Aug. 31, 1997, aged 36, and the unprecedented scenes of mourning that ensued.
“Our hope was to use the archive as a kind of time machine to take audiences back into our collective pasts and allow them to relive the story,” he told Reuters.
“The part of the Diana story of this puzzle that I felt was less explored and more interesting for me was, what does Diana’s story say about all of us? And so that’s the whole approach here, to kind of immerse audiences in this present tense unfolding, to never let you escape from the archive, to take you back into these moments in all our lives.”
“The Princess” will be released in theatres in Britain on June 30.