Altitude and Lightbox have announced a new documentary about Princess Diana, directed by Ed Perkins, that will be the first on the subject to have a worldwide theatrical release.

Perkins (Tell Me Who I Am, Black Sheep etc) is working alongside producers Simon and Jonathan Chinn of Lightbox and editor Jinx Godfrey on the feature-length doc, which is set for release in 2022, to mark the 25th anniversary of the Princess” death. It is produced in association with HBO and Sky, both of which will screen it after its cinema debut.

Diana will use an archive-only approach, drawing on thousands of hours of news reports, previously unseen footage and photographs.

Perkins said, “The life and death of Princess Diana remains one of the defining stories of our times. Though we are telling a story which has been told and re-told many times, my aim is to reframe it for a modern audience and make it feel as fresh and relevant as it ever has.

“The idea of taking an archive-only approach will allow us to immerse audiences in the narrative as if it were being told in the present. I want to bring this account of her life to audiences in a more emotional and unmediated way than has been done before and, rather than re-analysing it or offering another retrospective commentary, I want to invite audiences to bring their own memories and reflections and allow them to see and experience it afresh.”

The producers added: “The mythology surrounding Princess Diana remains as potent as ever, but we want to paint as honest a portrait as we can of a complex woman who had a powerful influence not just on the British monarchy but on wider society.

“In doing so we also want to allow audiences not just to better understand Diana but, through her story, to come to an understanding of the era that shaped it and to connect the dots between then and now. To that end, this very personal, human tale about the relationship between Diana and the establishment becomes a larger narrative about the relationship between Diana and all of us.”