BAFTA winning filmmaker, Asif Kapadia is known for his visually striking films exploring characters living in timeless, extreme and unforgiving landscapes. His films have been awarded and distributed internationally and shown how versatile and expressive British cinema can be.
Born in Hackney in 1972, Kapadia studied filmmaking at the Royal College of Art where he first gained recognition with his short The Sheep Thief (1997) shot in Rajasthan, India the film won many awards including Second Prize in the Cinefoundation section of the 1998 Cannes International Film Festival, Grand Prix at the 1997 European Short Film Festival in Brest & Best Director at the Poitiers Film Festival 1997.
Kapadia’s distinct visual style continued with his first feature The Warrior (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.
The Warrior also won the Best Film Award at the Dinard Film Festival, the prestigious Sutherland Award at the London Film Festival, the Evening Standard British Film Award for the Most Promising Newcomer, the Douglas Hickox Award for Best Debut Film, the Technical Achievement Award for Cinematography at the British Independent Film Awards and the Best Photography Award at the San Sebastian Film Festival.
Far North (2007), 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 fourth feature SENNA, the thrilling story of the Brazilian motor-racing legend Ayrton Senna was Nominated for three BAFTA awards, winning Best Documentary and Best Editing. SENNA is the highest grossing British documentary of all time and has broken sales records on DVD & Bluray in the UK. The film has won many awards around the world including the World Cinema Documentary Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival, Best Documentary at the London Critics Circle Awards 2011, 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.
