Amy Winehouse was famous for her troubled and controversial life, almost as much as she was for her soulful and captivating voice. Now, Universal Music and acclaimed documentary filmmaker Asif Kapadia have teamed up to perhaps alter some misconceived perceptions about the singing artist.
According to Hollywood Reporter, the untitled film uses never-before-seen archival footage to chronicle Winehouse’s life and career. The Winehouse documentary will reunite Kapadia with producer James Gay-Rees. The duo worked together on the 2010 award-winning doc Senna, which recounts the life and death of Brazilian car-racing champion Ayrton Senna.
“This is an incredibly modern, emotional and relevant film that has the power to capture the zeitgeist and shine a light on the world we live in in a way that very few films can,” said Kapadia and Gay-Rees.
“Amy was a once-in-a-generation talent who captured everyone’s attention; she wrote and sung from the heart, and everyone fell under her spell. But tragically, Amy seemed to fall apart under the relentless media attention, her troubled relationships, her global success and precarious lifestyle. As a society we celebrated her huge success, but then we were quick to judge her failings when it suited us,” they added.
Focus Features International, a division within the Universal, will seek a foreign buyer for the Amy Winehouse documentary at next month’s Cannes Film Market.
