British Indian filmmaker Asif Kapadia has won the best documentary Oscar for “Amy”, a poignant reflection of singer Amy Winehouse’s life and her tragic death at the age of 27.
Amy, which is the UK’s highest grossing non-fiction film, marks Kapadia’s first Oscar win, from his first nomination. Hackney born Kapadia, has already won the Golden Globe and Bafta awards for the documentary. The film has been critics' favourite since making its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival last year.
Paying tribute to Winehouse, who died in 2011 following a battle with drug and alcohol, Kapadia said, “Thank you the Academy for showing love to the film. We wanted to show who Amy really was, a funny intelligent, witty and a special girl.
Kapadia’s film examines how Winehouse’s addictions to alcohol and drugs intensified in fame’s glare, culminating in her death from alcohol poisoning in 2011. His previous film, Senna, about the Brazilian Formula One racing driver, controversially didn’t make the 2012 shortlist.
However it is believed that the singer’s father Mitch distanced himself from the documentary, allegedly calling Kapadia’s film “a one dimensional, miserable and misleading portrayal of Amy”. He even took on twitter to voice his disappointment to 63.3k followers, espcially after Kapadia bagged Oscar for the film. Kapadia and his team have reportedly said the film is a fair representation that they got of Amy from conducting more than 100 interviews with friends and family.
Born in 1972 to a Muslim British Indian family in North London, 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. He also attended Newport Film School (formerly part of the University of Wales, Newport, now the University of South Wales) and achieved a first-class degree (BA Hons) in Film, TV and Photographic Arts from the University of Westminster.
Kapadia, 44, is also well-known for directing “Senna” in 2012 and Irrfan Khan-starrer “The Warrior” in 2003.
University of Westminster congratulates alumni for winning Oscars
Two alumni from the University of Westminster achieved the highest film industry accolade by being announced winners at this year’s Oscars ceremony which took place in Los Angeles on Sunday evening, 28 February 2016.
University of Westminster’s graduate, Asif Kapadia, won best Documentary Feature for the film Amy, about the late singer Amy Winehouse. The short film, Stutterer, produced by film graduate Shan Christopher Ogilvie, won the best Live Action Short Film category. The film was produced by the University of Westminster graduate and founder of Bare Golly Films, Shan Christopher Ogilvie, which focuses on a young man with a severe stutter and his difficulties dating.
Professor Geoffrey Petts, Vice-Chancellor at the University of Westminster, said: “We are extremely proud of Asif Kapadia and Shan Christopher Ogilvie for winning two awards at this years’ Oscars. They are both a great inspiration and role models for our students and future film talents. At the University of Westminster, we have a tradition of producing some of the world’s most recognised producers, directors and writers, and last night’s awards are a testament to the fantastic works that our former student and staff have produced. I would like to extend my congratulation to both Asif and Shan for such a remarkable Oscar accolade.”
#OscarsSoWhite scandal hits Hollywood
The annual Academy Awards, or Oscars, addressed a lack of diversity in the movie industry, touching on the issue through humor and impassioned pleas. The Oscar presentation followed weeks of criticism that this year's nominees were overwhelmingly white. When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced its 2016 Oscar nominees, only white actors and actresses were among the chosen few in the top four categories- for the second year in a row- resulting in the resurgence of the social media hashtag #OscarsSoWhite and a bevy of concerns about diversity in Hollywood.
The host of the ceremony at the Dolby Theater, comic Chris Rock, tackled the controversy in his opening monologue, and Cheryl Boone Isaacs, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, later said the industry should reflect the diversity of its audiences.
The Oscars however had 12 black presenters amidst the #OscarsSoWhite controversy on Sunday night. Among the presenters were Common, Morgan Freeman, Whoopi Goldberg, Louis Gossett, Jr. and Kevin Hart.
While other races made up the 47 presenters of the night, the majority (30 people) were white. Other ethnicity included two Latin Americans, Benicio del Toro and Sofia Vergara and and also two people of Indian descent, Dev Patel (Brit-Indian) and Priyanka Chopra.
Lee Byung-hun, who is South Korean, and Olivia Munn, who is half Japanese also presented awards.
HOLLYWOOD DIVERSITY NUMBER
The ethnic make-up of all actors in last year’s Hollywood films:
- White: 73%
- Black: 5%
- Hispanic: 13%
- Asian: 5%
- Other: 4%
Indians dazzle in Oscar 2016
The excitement reached its climax, as Leonardo DiCaprio bagged his first Oscar as the best actor, the Supporting Actor category saw English actor Mark Rylance winning the Academy Award for Steven Spielberg's cold war drama "Bridge of Spies", backed by Indian businessman Anil Ambani-led Reliance Entertainment.
While India's entry in the Best Foreign language category did not make it to the final nomination this year, proud moments for the country was in abundance. Former Miss World, Bollywood star and Quantico actor Priyanka Chopra looked ravishing on the red carpet in a Zuhair Murad gown and flaunted dazzling jewels worth $8 million. She also gave away the Best Editing award to Margaret Sixel, for the film 'Mad Max Fury Road'. Chopra is now busy with shooting her first Hollywood film Baywatch.
Presenting an award at the event was also British actor of Indian origin Dev Patel. Indian-born British actor Saeed Jaffrey was remembered in the annual "In Memoriam" montage, along with Alan Rickman, Omar Sharif, David Bowie and Leonard Nimoy. However, Indian-American Pixar artist Sanjay Patel's animated short "Sanjay's Super Team", which tells the story of an immigrant community and "a family of colour", lost the Oscar to Chilean film "Bear Story".
A Kerala native was gleaming with pride when Inside Out won the Oscar for the best animated feature film on Monday. Sajan Scaria, from Nalanchira (Thiruvanathapuram) was a part of the winning movie's crew. Sajan, who is a character supervisor at Disney Pixar studio, has worked for seven Hollywood films, including Inside out. Before this, Resul Pookutty had won the coveted award for his work as a sound artist in Slumdog Millionaire (2009).
Documentary short on honour killing wins accolade
Pakistani-Canadian journalist and filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy won the Academy Award for documentary short, A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness, about honour killings.
Qaiser, 18, fell in love with a man against her family's wishes. Shortly after they eloped, her father and uncle shot her in the head and left her for dead. Her survival led her to become a rare voice for women in similar situations and the one needed for Obaid-Chinoy to tell the story. "She wanted her story told," said Obaid-Chinoy. "The impact of her story is tremendous, because it is going to change lives, and it's going to save lives, and there can be no greater reward than that."
