Asif Kapadia
Asif Kapadia
Asif Kapadiais a British filmmaker. He directed several award-winning films, including The Sheep Thief, winner of the 2nd Prize Cinéfondation for Short Film at the Cannes Film Festival, The Warrior, the BAFTA Award for Best British Film 2003 and Senna, winner of the BAFTA Award for Best Documentary, the BAFTA Award for Best Editing and the World Cinema Audience Award Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival 2011 and Amywhich has become the highest grossing documentary of all time in the...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionDirector
finance intended knew raising rights script shoot short straight time took
I'd always intended to make 'Far North' straight after 'The Warrior.' We had the rights to the short story, the script was in development, and I knew where I wanted to shoot it. It just took a long time getting the script together and raising the finance.
grand jean last michelle ran time vip worked
I worked with Michelle Yeoh on my last film, 'Far North,' and her partner is Jean Todt; at the time, he ran Ferrari. So I went as a VIP to the British grand prix.
fact filming stand time tv worked
I worked in TV for a short time and couldn't stand the fact that we'd always be filming someone talking, just giving information.
I don't have these crazy deadlines. I don't have this, 'Oh it's got to be out tomorrow.' I don't like working like that.
actual create footage heads life talking thrilling
My team and I used the actual footage to create a three-act story of the life of Ayrton Senna. There are no talking heads and no voiceover. Senna narrates his own epic, dramatic, thrilling journey.
editor footage
On 'Senna,' it got to the point where there was so much footage that our first editor had the wild suggestion that we only use the archive.
five took
'Senna' took five years, 'Amy' took three years. You try and say, 'Look, there's no deadline.' That's important. Just saying, 'We've got to make the film. And once the film's ready, it will be out there.'
visuals
My interest in filmmaking was always very much the visuals and images.
dimension films happy muslim spiritual tackle
My films often have a spiritual dimension which comes from my Muslim background, and I'm happy to tackle that in cinema.
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My background is Indian, so I believe in a spiritual idea that there is another level, another layer or layers, if you will, above us. I believe that there are elements that allow things to be drawn together, a sort of energy.
bollywood musical
My background is from India, and I always get asked, 'When are you going to do an Indian film, a musical or Bollywood film?'
becomes deeper family maybe suddenly
My family didn't film anything. But then you look deeper and realize, maybe there are photographs, there are things. It's also context: You give something a context, and suddenly it becomes really deep or meaningful footage.
If I'm going to do something, I'm going to spend however long it takes to get it right.
anyone car circles drove fan formula giant looked
Why make a movie about Ayrton Senna? Someone who drove around in circles at 200mph in a car that looked like a giant cigarette packet? Why would anyone who isn't already a fan of Formula 1 care?