Amy Winehouse Documentary Release Date Set For U.K., U.S. Has To Wait
A long-awaited documentary about late five-time Grammy-winning singer Amy Winehouse will finally be seen by audiences in the United Kingdom this year.
British theaters will show Amy on July 3, 2015, courtesy of Altitude Distribution, according to the Los Angeles Times. Amy is directed by Asif Kapadia, the winner of two FAFTA awards for the 2010 documentary Senna. Senna was about the life and death of Ayrton Senna, a Formula One racing legend. The documentary is produced by James Gay-Rees through On the Corner Films and co-produced by Universal Music.
David Joseph, CEO of Universal Music U.K., explained why it was so important to create a film about Amy Winehouse.
“About two years ago we decided to make a movie about her — her career and her life. It’s a very complicated and tender movie. It tackles lots of things about family and media, fame, addiction, but most importantly, it captures the very heart of what she was about, which is an amazing person and a true musical genius.”
Amy Winehouse fans will be excited to see previously-unreleased home footage and music recordings in the documentary. The documentary is told in the singer’s own words and tracks her rise to fame to her legendary fall through struggles with addiction, according to the Independent. Amy has already been compared to Kurt Cobain’s biopic, Montage of Heck.
A press release for the documentary describes her short life as “precarious” and tragic.
“Her huge success, however, resulted in relentless and invasive media attention, which coupled with Amy’s troubled relationships and precarious lifestyle, saw her life tragically begin to unravel.”
Amy Winehouse died almost four years ago on July 23, 2011, from alcohol poisoning in London when she was just 27-years-old.
Following her death, an unauthorized biopic, Fallen Star, was released in 2013. Mitch Winehouse, Amy’s father, called the film, which included no music from Winehouse, “rubbish.” Mitch owns the copyright to his daughter’s music and authorizes the use of it in films.
A statement in 2013 put the family in support of the new Amy Winehouse documentary, according to CNN.
“The award-winning producers of ‘Senna’ presented a vision that would look at Amy’s story sensitively, honestly and without sensationalising her. We want this to be a tribute to her musical legacy.”
No U.S. release date has been set for Amy, as it has not yet found a U.S. distributor. However, Deadline reports that several parties have raised interest after early screenings of the documentary in other parts of the world. Hopefully, Amy Winehouse fans in the U.S. will not have to wait too long before they get to see their soulful star on screen once again.
[Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images Entertainment]
