---
name: "Asif Kapadia"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/asif-kapadia"
fi1m_id: "asif-kapadia"
imdb_id: "nm0438090"
tmdb_id: 55251
wikidata_id: "Q2318712"
roles: ["Director"]
born: "1 January 1972"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 4
average_fi1m_score: 81
average_as: "director"
average_over: 4
updated: "2026-10-03T00:44:55.543252+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Asif Kapadia

## Identity

Asif Kapadia

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/asif-kapadia
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** asif-kapadia
- **IMDb ID:** nm0438090
- **TMDB ID:** 55251
- **Wikidata ID:** Q2318712
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asif_Kapadia, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2318712, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0438090/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/55251

Director. Born 1 January 1972 in Hackney, London, England, UK.

## Details

- **Work:** Director
- **Born:** 1 January 1972, Hackney, London, England, UK
- **Active:** 2010–2019
- **Frequently works with:** [James Gay-Rees](https://film.one/person/james-gay-rees.md)
- **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar (1 won)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 81, as director, over 4 titles
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 81 to 76 across 4 titles
- **Score spread:** 3 at 80+, 1 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Genres:** Documentary 3, Sport 2, Crime 1, Drama 1, Music 1
- **Screen time:** 6 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $32m across 2 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asif_Kapadia, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2318712, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0438090/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/55251

## Streaming the US now

- **HBO Max:** [*Amy*](https://film.one/film/amy.md) (81), [*Diego Maradona*](https://film.one/film/diego-maradona.md) (76)
- **Netflix:** [*MINDHUNTER*](https://film.one/tv/mindhunter.md) (83)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Asif Kapadia

> Asif Kapadia builds gripping documentaries from archive footage, bringing us close to people under pressure. We admire his dramatic clarity, though *Senna* shows how sympathy for a subject can limit the questions he asks.

In *Senna* (2010), the racing matters because of the men contesting it, particularly Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost. Kapadia makes their rivalry clear without requiring us to arrive with an interest in Formula One. We were tense during the racing, because the rivalry had given us something to care about beyond who finished first. He gives us enough to follow the competition without making the film feel like homework.

That documentary method came after fiction: *The Warrior* (2001), his debut feature, followed by *The Return* (2006) and *Far North* (2007). With *Senna*, he shifted to stories assembled from archive, largely dispensing with on-camera interviews. *Amy* (2015) and *Diego Maradona* (2019) continued that approach, keeping close to the central subject through existing footage and recorded voices. Fame and the personal cost of success became recurring concerns.

Recurring collaborators include editor Chris King and producer James Gay-Rees. Choosing and ordering the footage do much of the work that a screenplay would do in fiction. By favouring the subject's own words and recorded voice, Kapadia keeps us close to their experience as events unfold. In *Senna*, the approach makes the friction between driving and managing a sporting career clear, without regularly stepping outside the story to explain it.

The cost is clearest in the treatment of Prost, who is essential to *Senna*'s grip but gets too little room to put his side on equal terms. Kapadia's admiration for his central figure limits how closely he questions him. The selection of material too often settles whom we should support. That is a significant weakness in a biography, even when the racing and the rivalry are as absorbing as they are here.

With the hybrid fiction-documentary *2073* (2024), Kapadia takes archive material into a story of a dystopian future. It is a change of form from the biographical portraits, and a reminder that he began in fiction. Start with *Senna*, but keep a little room for Prost's version of events.

## Biography

Asif Kapadia is a British filmmaker. Born in 1972 in the London Borough of Hackney, he trained at Newport Film School, the University of Westminster and the Royal College of Art.

He is best known for a trilogy of archive-based documentaries: *Senna* (2010), *Amy* (2015) and *Diego Maradona* (2019). Earlier feature films include *The Warrior* (2001) and *Far North* (2008). Later works include *Ali and Nino* (2016), *2073* (2024) and *Federer: Twelve Final Days* (2024).

Kapadia has received an Academy Award for *Amy*, multiple BAFTA awards and a Grammy. He is married to art director Victoria Harwood.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, asifkapadia.com.*

## On Fi1m (4)

- *Diego Maradona* (2019), Fi1m 76, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/diego-maradona.md)
- *MINDHUNTER* (2017), Fi1m 83, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/mindhunter.md)
- *Amy* (2015), Fi1m 81, Writer, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/amy.md)
- *Senna* (2010), Fi1m 84, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/senna.md)

## Complete filmography (39)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *70 Up* (2026), Director
- *Super Nature* (2026), Executive Producer
- *Kenny Dalglish* (2025), Director, Producer, Writer
- *2073* (2024), Director, Producer, Writer
- *Federer: Twelve Final Days* (2024), Director, Producer
- *Camden* (2024), series, Series Director, Director
- *Robbie Williams* (2023), series, Executive Producer
- *The Man Who Stole the Scream* (2023), Executive Producer
- *Creature* (2023), Director, Executive Producer
- *Laika* (2021), Director, Writer
- *1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything* (2021), series, Series Director, Executive Producer, Director
- *The Me You Can't See* (2021), series, Executive Producer, Director
- *The Last Hour* (2021), series, Executive Producer
- *Diego Maradona* (2019), Director — Fi1m 76, [page](https://film.one/film/diego-maradona.md)
- *Stephen: The Murder That Changed a Nation* (2018), series, Executive Producer
- *Monsoon Shootout* (2017), Co-Producer
- *MINDHUNTER* (2017), series, Director — Fi1m 83, [page](https://film.one/tv/mindhunter.md)
- *The Tale of Thomas Burberry* (2016), Director
- *Supersonic* (2016), Executive Producer
- *Ali and Nino* (2016), Director
- *Ronaldo* (2015), Producer
- *Amy* (2015), Director, Writer — Fi1m 81, [page](https://film.one/film/amy.md)
- *Standard Operating Procedure* (2013), Director
- *The Odyssey* (2012), Director, Writer, Producer
- *Senna* (2010), Director — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/senna.md)
- *Far North* (2008), Director, Screenplay
- *The Return* (2006), Director
- *The Bypass* (2003), Producer
- *Cinema16: British Short Films* (2003), Director
- *The Warrior* (2001), Director, Writer
- *The Nine Lives of Tomas Katz* (2000), as Gwupigrubynudny-landians
- *Hotdog* (1999), Director
- *The Sheep Thief* (1997), Director, Writer
- *Wild West* (1996), Director, Writer, Producer
- *The Waiting Room* (1996), Director
- *Indian Tales* (1994), Director
- *Pariah the Red Man* (1994), as The Rock (voice)
- *The Up Series* (1964), series, Director
- *Uneternal City*, Director

## Gallery

- ![Asif Kapadia](https://film.one/media/person/103748/gallery-a79f94b4c6c7.jpg) Asif Kapadia — Instituto Ayrton Senna, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/Asif_Kapadia_-_Premiere_Senna.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Laura Poitras Q&A With Asif Kapadia "All The Beauty And The Bloodshed" Screening - Picturehouse Central - Friday 27th January 2023](https://film.one/media/person/103748/gallery-e539f882b491.jpg) Laura Poitras Q&A With Asif Kapadia "All The Beauty And The Bloodshed" Screening - Picturehouse Central - Friday 27th January 2023 — Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/24/LauraPoitrasQAPicCent270123_%288_of_9%29_%2852795691426%29.jpg/1280px-LauraPoitrasQAPicCent270123_%288_of_9%29_%2852795691426%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Laura Poitras Q&A With Asif Kapadia "All The Beauty And The Bloodshed" Screening - Picturehouse Central - Friday 27th January 2023](https://film.one/media/person/103748/gallery-88f9682afb7d.jpg) Laura Poitras Q&A With Asif Kapadia "All The Beauty And The Bloodshed" Screening - Picturehouse Central - Friday 27th January 2023 — Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c9/LauraPoitrasQAPicCent270123_%289_of_9%29_%2852796136333%29.jpg/1280px-LauraPoitrasQAPicCent270123_%289_of_9%29_%2852796136333%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Photos by: Cheryl Corman (2023)](https://film.one/media/person/103748/gallery-3a21979478fa.jpg) Photos by: Cheryl Corman (2023) — Montclair Film, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3a/Montclair-Film-Festival_2024_Cheryl-Corman-00075_Cheryl_Corman_%2854118679967%29.jpg/1280px-Montclair-Film-Festival_2024_Cheryl-Corman-00075_Cheryl_Corman_%2854118679967%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Photos by: Cheryl Corman (2023)](https://film.one/media/person/103748/gallery-f2cdef8d3096.jpg) Photos by: Cheryl Corman (2023) — Montclair Film, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/88/Montclair-Film-Festival_2024_Cheryl-Corman-00078_Cheryl_Corman_%2854119870279%29.jpg/1280px-Montclair-Film-Festival_2024_Cheryl-Corman-00078_Cheryl_Corman_%2854119870279%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Photos by: Cheryl Corman (2023)](https://film.one/media/person/103748/gallery-fe26bc1edaca.jpg) Photos by: Cheryl Corman (2023) — Montclair Film, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4a/Montclair-Film-Festival_2024_Cheryl-Corman-00079_Cheryl_Corman_%2854119991205%29.jpg/1280px-Montclair-Film-Festival_2024_Cheryl-Corman-00079_Cheryl_Corman_%2854119991205%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 1 won

- 2016: Best Documentary Feature Film (won), for *Amy*

### BAFTA Film Awards — 3 won, 2 nominated

- 2012: Best Documentary (won), for *Senna*
- 2012: Best British Film (nominated), for *Senna*
- 2003: Best Newcomer (won), for *The Warrior*
- 2003: Best British Film (won), for *The Warrior*
- 2003: Best Film Not in the English Language (nominated), for *The Warrior*

### Other awards — 3 won, 3 nominated

- Starlight International Cinema Award 2020: Starlight International Cinema Award (won)
- European Film Award for Best Documentary 2015: European Film Award for Best Documentary (won), for *Amy*
- British Independent Film Awards 2011: Best British Independent Film (nominated), for *Senna*
- European Film Award for European Discovery of the Year 2002: European Film Award for European Discovery of the Year (nominated), for *The Warrior*
- British Independent Film Awards 2001: Best British Independent Film (nominated), for *The Warrior*
- Sutherland Trophy 2001: Sutherland Trophy (won), for *The Warrior*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/asif-kapadia