Asif Kapadia

Asif Kapadia is an Academy Award, Grammy and four time BAFTA winning Producer / Director / Writer who works across both film and television. Kapadia is known for his emotional engaging, visually striking, genre breaking films exploring ‘outsiders’ characters living in extreme circumstances, fighting against a corrupt or broken system and the price of fame. He has worked in drama and documentaries, Kapadia is best known for his trilogy of narratively driven, archive constructed documentaries SENNA, AMY & DIEGO MARADONA.

His debut feature ‘THE WARRIOR’ was nominated for three Bafta awards, winning Best British Film and Best Debut Film. His fourth feature ‘SENNA’, the story of the Brazilian motor racing legend Ayrton Senna, was nominated for three Bafta awards, winning Best Documentary and Best Editing. It went on to break UK box office records to become the highest grossing British Documentary of all time. ‘AMY’, about singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse has now overtaken ‘SENNA’ to become the most successful British Documentary of all time, winning numerous awards including the Academy Award, BAFTA, European Film Award and a Grammy for Best Documentary.

Born in Hackney, London in 1972, Kapadia studied filmmaking at the Royal College of Art where he first gained recognition with his short film THE SHEEP THIEF (1997) shot in Rajasthan, India, the film won many international awards including one in the Cinefondation section of the 1998 Cannes International Film Festival and the Grand Prix at the European Film Festival in Brest.

Kapadia’s distinct visual style developed with his debut feature THE WARRIOR (Film4, 2001), shot in the deserts of Rajasthan and the snow capped Himalaya. The Warrior was championed in the British Press as ‘epic’ and ‘stunning’ (Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian) and in 2003 was nominated for three BAFTA awards, winning two for Outstanding British Film of the Year and The Carl Foreman Award for Special Achievement by a Director in their First Feature, as well as being nominated for Best Film Not in the English Language. The Warrior won the prestigious Sutherland Award at the London Film Festival, the Evening Standard British Film Award for the Most Promising Newcomer and the Douglas Hickox Award at the BIFAs for Best Debut Film.

FAR NORTH (2007), Starring Michael Yeoh and Sean Bean premiered at the Venice Film Festival. Based on a short story by writer Sara Maitland. Kapadia used the epic and brutal Arctic landscape to show what desperation and loneliness can drive people to do.

Kapadia’s feature documentary SENNA (Universal Pictures / Working Title, 2011), the thrilling story and emotional story of the Brazilian motor-racing legend Ayrton Senna, constructed entirely from archive, was a groundbreaking feature documentary, the film was a break out hit at the international box office, grossing over $15m worldwide. SENNA was Nominated for three BAFTA awards, winning Best Documentary and Best Editing, as well as being nominated for Best British Film. SENNA broke records at the cinema and on DVD & Bluray in the UK. The film has won awards around the world including the World Cinema Documentary Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival, Best Documentary at the London Critics Circle, the BIFA award for Best Documentary, the Audience Award for Best International Feature at the Los Angeles Film Festival and was nominated by the Producers Guild of America for the Documentary Theatrical Motion Picture Award 2012.

AMY (Universal Music, 2015), world premiered in Official Selection at the Cannes Film Festival and tells the story of Amy Winehouse in her own words. The film was an international box office hit grossing over $20m, it is the highest grossing UK documentary of all time. AMY won the Academy Award for Feature Documentary, the BAFTA for Best Documentary, was nominated for Outstanding British Film. Kapadia was nominated for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary for AMY by the Directors Guild of America (DGA) (Documentaries & TV).

Kapadia’s third feature documentary Diego Maradona, about the controversial genius, Argentinian footballer Diego Armando Maradona world premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, the film was Nominated for a BAFTA for Best Documentary and completed his epic trilogy on the price of fame,

Kapadia directed two episodes of Mindhunter (Netflix) for David Fincher.

in 2021 Kapadia Executive Produced and Series Directed the music series 1971: ‘The year that music changed everything’ and he Directed & Executive Produced the series THE ME YOU CAN’T SEE with Oprah Winfrey and Prince Harry focusing on mental health and well being, both for AppleTV+.

Kapadia was an Executive Producer of the landmark BBC ONE series Stephen: The Murder That Changed A Nation.

THE ODYSSEY (2012, Film4, BBC, LOCOG) Kapadia was commissioned to direct an official film for the London Cultural Olympiad, his film traces the journey from 2005 when London won the right to host the Olympic Games to the eve of the games in 2012. The film uses the voices of Londoners, archive, classic Olympic footage and stunning aerial photography of London to show how sport is essential, how it can inspire, provide unforgettable moments of beauty, purity and the sublime.

STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE (2013, Reprieve, Guardian films) More than 100 hunger-strikers in Guantánamo Bay protest as they continue to be held without charge, some for over a decade. A leaked document sets out the military instructions, or standard operating procedure, for force-feeding detainees. In this graphic four-minute film made by Human Rights organisation Reprieve and director Asif Kapadia, US actor and rapper Yasiin Bey (formerly known as Mos Def), experiences the procedure. SOP was released on The Guardian newspaper’s website, the film went viral and was picked up by every major news source around the globe, picking up more than 10million views in a matter of days.

Kapadia directed the award winning Burberry commercial, “A Tale of Thomas Burberry”, featuring an all-star cast of Domhnall Gleeson, Sienna Miller, Dominic West and Lily James and written by Academy Award nominee Matt Charman. Comprising of a three-minute cinematic trailer, the film is inspired by Thomas Burberry’s life and achievements, reimagining key events that have shaped the company’s history and values.