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
class golden lucky martin master scorsese student ticket
While still a young student at film school, I was lucky enough to get a golden ticket to a Martin Scorsese master class at BAFTA in Piccadilly: fancy, but technically still 'the flicks'.
fully time
We were working on 'Senna' for a long time before we were fully financed, so we didn't actually have an editor for a while.
audiences decided direct disliked engage formula given heard opportunity people race seen sports thrill work
When I was given the opportunity to direct 'Senna,' I decided the film had to work for audiences who disliked sport or had never seen a Formula One race in their lives. It had to thrill and emotionally engage people who had never heard of Ayrton Senna.
love
For me, 'Amy' is a very dark film about love.
great
It's always great to be able to go to a premiere with the actors there.
appeal dramas dreams formula great human sports
I wanted to make a film that wouldn't just appeal to Formula One fans. That's what the great sports documentaries do - 'Hoop Dreams,' 'When We Were Kings' - they're human dramas first, sport second, if at all.
art designers encouraged school study surrounded
I wanted to study film at an art school - I loved the idea of being surrounded by designers and artists. We were encouraged to be experimental.
drivers driving formula hour manual miles per streets technology ultimate
There are no drivers like Formula One drivers. They are engineers, in a way. They are driving manual cars one-handed at 200 miles per hour around streets in Monaco. These cars use the ultimate in technology.
below brick days directly filming four looking minutes realised seen spent viewpoint
We spent four days filming in a helicopter. I had never seen London from that viewpoint - you get a sense of how big it is and how easy it is to get lost. There was one day when we couldn't find Brick Lane: we spent 25 minutes looking and then realised it was directly below us.
means
To be teammates in Formula One actually means you are first rivals, not really mates.
movies people
We want to make movies for the big screen. We want people to go to the theater and feel like they're watching a movie.
time
A lot of the time when I'm working, I'm abroad.
creating cuts faster imperative love moments pace perfect tenor trying
As much as I love creating entertaining visuals, I love toying with the pace of a movie and trying to perfect that. It's imperative to the impact: faster cuts, cuts at the right moments that meld with the tenor of a scene. Creating and maintaining that feeling.
somewhere
A big part of my filmmaking is that I can go somewhere new and, visually, be excited by it.