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.
— Asif Kapadia
On 'Senna,' it got to the point where there was so much footage that our first editor had the wild suggestion that we only use the archive.
A big part of my filmmaking is that I can go somewhere new and, visually, be excited by it.
My films often have a spiritual dimension which comes from my Muslim background, and I'm happy to tackle that in cinema.
My family didn't film anything. But then you look deeper and realize, maybe there are photographs, there are things. It's also context: You give something a context, and suddenly it becomes really deep or meaningful footage.
There's this great TV show we have called 'Later... with Jools Holland', a live-music show on Friday nights. Anyone and everyone's been on it.
It's always great to be able to go to a premiere with the actors there.
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.
The subjects have to come with questions for me. I don't make films where I'm a massive fan.
'Amy' is somewhere in the middle of authorized and unauthorized.
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.
A lot of the time when I'm working, I'm abroad.
Weirdly enough, I live in London - was born there and have lived there all my life - but I hadn't made a film in London for a long time. I hadn't found the right subject. I liked going away, to some far flung place.
I made three short films of my own which I wrote, produced, directed... you did everything in those days. My favourite one was something I shot on VHS... a little documentary.
I worked in TV for a short time and couldn't stand the fact that we'd always be filming someone talking, just giving information.
I lived in Camden, Primrose Hill and Kentish Town for 10 years.
As a kid, I thought movies were boring. My parents would hire VHS recorders for the weekend and watch Bollywood movies. I'd get bored and go out to Stoke Newington common to play football.
The Tour de France would make a great movie. Drugs, corruption, political chicanery, guys risking their lives - everything you need for a great sports drama.
I never know going in if I've even got a movie to make. Once you start making a film, you hope there's going to be enough material! My job as a director is always to push for more.
My interest in filmmaking was always very much the visuals and images.
I used to live in Pillgwenlly, and there was this old Italian pizzeria that used to be there with a really amazing character who ran it.
