”It may not be perfect, but you have to just get to the end of the idea.”

And Kapadia continues: ”I have grown up with a lot of friends who were brilliant, who were amazing, but they didn’t finish the script, they never finished the film that they were working on. And that’s for me one of the biggest issues: to just do it.”

Asif Kapadia is an Academy Award, Grammy and multiple-time BAFTA-winning Producer, Director, and Writer who works across film and television. Kapadia is known for his emotionally 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. In 2024, his latest work, 2073, premiered at the 2024 Venice International Film Festival, where it ignited conversation regarding the state of the world today politically, economically, and socially.

His debut feature, ‘THE WARRIOR’, was nominated for three Bafta awards, winning Best British Film and Best Debut Film. His fourth feature, ‘SENNA’, is the story of the Brazilian motor racing legend Ayrton Senna, and he was nominated for three Bafta awards, winning Best Documentary and Best Editing. It broke UK box office records to become the highest-grossing British Documentary ever. ‘AMY’, about singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse, has 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.

Asif Kapadia was interviewed by Helle Pagter in March 2023. The interview took place at Johan Borup College in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Camera: Jakob Solbakken

Edited and produced by: Helle Pagter

Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2025

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