Asif Kapadia

Asif Kapadia was born in 1972 in north London, to an Indian Muslim {{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2011/jul/09/asif-kapadia-interview-ayrton-senna|title=The Saturday interview: Asif Kapadia|work=The Guardian|date=8 July 2011|quote="My films often have a spiritual dimension which comes from my Muslim background, and I'm happy to tackle that in cinema."}}{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2012/jun/24/asif-kapadia-odyssey-london-2012|title=Asif Kapadia's 2012 Odyssey: the film that captures London's dark side|work=The Guardian|date=24 June 2012}} British family. He attended Newport Film School (formerly part of the University of Wales, Newport, now the University of South Wales),{{cite web|url=http://documentarynewport.com/history/ |title=History | documentary newport |access-date=2015-05-31 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150527163708/http://documentarynewport.com/history/ |archive-date=27 May 2015 }}

achieved a first-class degree (BA Hons) in Film, TV and Photographic Arts from the University of Westminster{{cite web|title=An interview with Asif Kapadia|url=http://www.westminster.ac.uk/about-us/alumni/alumni-by-faculty/media-arts-and-design/notable-alumni/asif-kapadia|website=University of Westminster|access-date=14 December 2015}}

and an MA (RCA) in Directing for Film and TV at the Royal College of Art.

Kapadia has said he sees himself as a Londoner ("a Hackney lad"), northern European, with Indian family heritage. These unique characteristics helped to make him stand out as a film-maker when he was starting out.{{Cite web |title=BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs, Asif Kapadia, film director |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000bv2m |access-date=2024-06-28 |website=BBC |language=en-GB}}

He has said:

“I’ve always tried to do things differently – because my point of view is different.

“I don’t come from private school, I don’t come from money. My family were not in the film industry. I’m not white, I’m brown, and my background is Muslim. My family are from India and are quite religious.

“As the youngest of five kids, my parents kind of let me do what I wanted to do. I was able to have a point of view, I wasn’t told, ‘You must do this’: I picked what I wanted to study, I never did A-levels. When I was at university, I would always argue with the tutors, because I would kind of have to do what they told me to do.

“Things like that were just me going, ‘I don’t feel that’s right, I’m gonna do this’. So I’m quite stubborn, I guess.”{{Cite web |date=2024-06-21 |title=‘You’ve got to trust your gut’ - Oscar-winner Asif Kapadia on new Roger Federer doc and stellar career |url=https://www.irishnews.com/entertainment/youve-got-to-trust-your-gut-oscar-winner-asif-kapadia-on-new-roger-federer-doc-and-stellar-career-QOE2CU34MRG2TEXF7OU4QMUK2E/ |access-date=2024-06-28 |website=The Irish News |language=en}}

Kapadia's first feature film, The Warrior,{{cite news |title=Review The silent soldier The Warrior |author=Matt Warren |newspaper=The Scotsman |date=24 August 2001 |access-date=31 May 2012|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-18797156.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140611123823/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-18797156.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 June 2014}} was shot in the Himalayas and the deserts of Rajasthan. The film caught the attention of The Arts Foundation who in 2001 awarded him a fellowship in Film Directing. Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian described The Warrior as possessing "mighty breadth" and "shimmering beauty";{{cite web| url = https://www.theguardian.com/film/2002/may/03/1| title = The Warrior| author = Bradshaw, Peter| date = 10 May 2002| access-date = 15 April 2014| publisher = theguardian.com}} the film was nominated for three BAFTA awards, winning two: the Alexander Korda Award for the outstanding British Film of the Year 2003 and The Carl Foreman Award for Special Achievement by a Director, Screenwriter or Producer in their First Feature.

Far North premiered at the Venice Film Festival, based on a dark short story by Sara Maitland. Kapadia used the brutal arctic landscape to show how desperation and loneliness drives a woman to harm the person she loves. Kapadia's fourth feature, Senna, was the life story of Brazilian motor-racing champion, Ayrton Senna.

Kapadia's next film Amy was a documentary that depicted the life and death of British singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse. Amy was released on 3 July 2015 in the United Kingdom, New York and Los Angeles, and worldwide on 10 July. The film has been described as "heartbreaking", "awe-inspiring", "unmissable", "the best documentary of the year" and "a tragic masterpiece". The film received five out of five star ratings when it was reviewed at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival in May. The film has become the highest grossing British documentary, and second highest grossing documentary of all time in the United Kingdom, overtaking Kapadia's 2010 movie Senna.[http://www.cornerstonefilm.com/news-blog/2015/10/17/uk-box-office-amy-becomes-second-biggest-doc-ever "U.K. Box Office: 'Amy' becomes second biggest doc ever"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171001074858/http://www.cornerstonefilm.com/news-blog/2015/10/17/uk-box-office-amy-becomes-second-biggest-doc-ever |date=1 October 2017 }}. Cornerstone film.[https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jul/06/amy-winehouse-documentary-breaks-records-box-office "Amy Winehouse documentary breaks box office records"]. The Guardian.

In 2018, a documentary film titled Maradona, based on Argentine football legend Diego Maradona, was released. Following on from Senna and Amy, Kapadia states: "Maradona is the third part of a trilogy about child geniuses and fame." He added: "I was fascinated by his journey, wherever he went there were moments of incredible brilliance and drama. He was a leader, taking his teams to the very top, but also many lows in his career. He was always the little guy fighting against the system... and he was willing to do anything, to use all of his cunning and intelligence to win."{{cite news|title=Amy director Asif Kapadia set to make Maradona documentary|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/amy-director-asif-kapadia-set-to-make-maradona-documentary-a6841391.html|work=The Independent|date=1 October 2017}}

In 2019, Kapadia was awarded as Honorary Associate of London Film School.{{Cite web|title=ASIF KAPADIA ANNOUNCED AS HONORARY ASSOCIATE OF THE LONDON FILM SCHOOL London Film School|url=https://lfs.org.uk/content/asif-kapadia-announced-honorary-associate-london-film-school|access-date=2020-06-30|website=lfs.org.uk}}

In 2022, Kapadia participated in the Sight & Sound film polls of that year. It is held every ten years to select the greatest films of all time, by asking contemporary directors to select ten films of their choice.{{cite web | url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/greatest-films-all-time/all-voters/asif-kapadia | title=Asif Kapadia | BFI }}

Kapadia's selections were:

{{div col | colwidth=25em}}

• Vertigo (1958)
• Raging Bull (1980)
• 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
• La Jetée (1962)
• Once upon a Time in the West (1968)
• Don't Look Now (1973)
• The Godfather Part II (1974)
• Come and See (1985)
• Yojimbo (1961)
• In the Mood for Love (2000)

{{div col end}}

In September 2019, Kapadia appeared on BBC Radio 4's The Film Programme in which he told presenter Francine Stock of his love for the Vietnamese gangster movie Cyclo by writer-director Trần Anh Hùng. He saw it when it first came out in 1996, when he was a film student, and it crystallised his ambitions for the type of film-making he wished to pursue. As he explained to Stock, "a lightbulb went off in my head" and his life was never the same again.{{Cite web |title=BBC Radio 4 - The Film Programme, Asif Kapadia |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0008p3j |access-date=2024-06-28 |website=BBC |language=en-GB}}

In December 2019, along with 42 other leading cultural figures, Kapadia signed a letter endorsing the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership in the 2019 general election. The letter stated that "Labour's election manifesto under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership offers a transformative plan that prioritises the needs of people and the planet over private profit and the vested interests of a few."{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/dec/03/vote-for-hope-and-a-decent-future|title= Vote for hope and a decent future |work=The Guardian|date=3 December 2019|access-date=4 December 2019}}{{cite news |last=Proctor|first=Kate|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/dec/03/coogan-klein-lead-cultural-figures-backing-corbyn-labour|title=Coogan and Klein lead cultural figures backing Corbyn and Labour|work=The Guardian|date=3 December 2019|access-date=4 December 2019}}

In October 2024, Kapadia attracted controversy, after sharing posts on the social media platform X, which The Grierson Trust had deemed as "antisemitic" (and to which the charity removed Kapadia as a patron). Kapadia apologized, telling BBC News he was "mortified by the hurt and offence" that some of his posts have caused.{{cite news |last=Noor|first=Nanji|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn8jp415206o|title=Oscar-winning director sorry for 'antisemitic posts'|work=BBC News|date=11 October 2024|access-date=11 October 2024}}

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Category:1972 births

Category:Living people

Category:European Film Awards winners (people)

Category:English film directors

Category:English people of Indian descent

Category:British Ismailis

Category:Grammy Award winners

Category:Alumni of the University of Wales, Newport

Category:Directors of Best Documentary Feature Academy Award winners

Category:Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer BAFTA Award winners

Category:Collage filmmakers

Category:English people of Gujarati descent

Category:Khoja Ismailis