In local nature documentary Bucket: The Lion Cub, wildlife filmmaker and safari expert Brent Leo-Smith navigates the delicate balance of conservation and human empathy in the wild.

In nature documentaries, the human species tends to remain behind the camera, casting wildlife into a narrative as seen through our eyes, yet keeping at a distance as if we are not a part of nature ourselves.

Avoiding imposing on or disrupting natural processes in the animal kingdom can be considered one of the ethical foundations of nature filmmaking. But where does one draw the line between allowing nature to play out in both its awe and its anguish and using our position as humans to intervene?

Award winner at the International Tourism Film Festival Africa, the South African documentary Bucket: The Lion Cub is a testament to the work of wildlife conservationists.

Told through the narrator, wildlife filmmaker and safari expert Brent Leo-Smith, Bucket: The Lion Cub follows the life of a tiny cub on the Rietspruit Game Reserve in Limpopo, who finds herself on a grand adventure with adult male lions before she is able to physically fend for herself independent of her mother.

Made by wildlife media and safari company Painteddog.tv, Bucket: The Lion Cub takes a while to settle into its narrative.

It begins with Leo-Smith's childhood memories of the bush, the backstory of...