Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Oscar-winning documentary director known for his trilogy on Ayrton Senna, Amy Winehouse, and Diego Maradona.
On the island
Eight records
This one's for Amy, an amazing artist, an incredibly beautiful, wonderful, creative person who I was lucky enough to meet in a perverse way by making this film.
The second disc is kind of dedicated to my brother and my three sisters. I'm the youngest of five kids. We grew up listening to music and particularly disco.
This is Kabi Kabi, which is one of the songs that my mum used to listen to. She was a machinist. She worked really hard all hours of the day. She loved music.
During the days of Homerton, that's when kind of hip-hop really became a thing. And this is the kind of era of wearing my Waltman and listening to Public Enemy.
Peramo had this idea, he wanted to make a film about the prodigy. So we ended up for that summer, we basically followed them around to festivals.
The Man with the HarmonicaFavourite
I was first shown the opening to this movie when I was a student. A tutor showed it to me and said, look, you need to watch the opening of this movie to understand sound.
This next track is by Antonio Pinto, and it's a track that I used in Senna when Aiton Senna's just crashed. And what I subsequently learnt is that Antonio wrote this piece of music just after his own mother had died.
Art School, the Royal College of Art, that particular period of late nineties, early two thousands. So the next track, I think you have to have a radio head track if you're gonna put together there's an island disc.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:52How would you characterize your style as a filmmaker?
I've grown up having a kind of Indian background, but being a Londoner, feeling very European and going on a 73 bus to the West End, it was just normal being surrounded by people who were from different parts of the world, ate different food. So when I got into movies, that was my opportunity to travel and understand people and understand cultures and then try to tell stories.
Presenter asks
2:15Why don't you show the interviews in your documentaries?
Part of my interest in filmmaking is always to slightly break the rules and to try, if I can, to be different or original. So my first feature, The Warrior, it was a British movie. I made a film in India, not in English with no British actors. So when Senna came along, I just thought there's a way of telling this story which is from the point of view of it and Senna, but I can't interview him. So how do we do that? And the idea of using his voice to tell his own life story.
Presenter asks
6:22How do you deal with it when people close to the subject disagree with your take? Mitch Winehouse, for example, wasn't happy with the Amy film.
Honestly, pretty much everyone who's seen it says the film's true and honest, even if they don't say it publicly. There was one person who came out who didn't like it. But the way I make the films using archive, I'm not putting those words in your mouth. What you did, you did what you did, you said what you said. Don't trust me, listen to Amy. She wrote it in her own song. So my job was just to do my best version of what I felt was the truth.
The keepsakes
The book
The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Alex Haley and Malcolm X
I think the book that I go back to and I've always found quite inspirational was the autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley and Malcolm X. You know, he's a street guy who's a hustler who comes from a violent world who somehow goes through life and changes and becomes a man of peace. And it's an amazing story. An incredible journey of a man.
The luxury
Polaroid camera with unlimited film from the 70s
The luxury I'm going to ask for is a really good Polaroid camera with unlimited film from the 70s, which was really rich and saturated. And I think if I could just spend time on the island taking Polaroid photos and putting them under my armpit for them to dry and pin them up somewhere from a tree, I think that might keep me amused and happy.
Presenter asks
9:35What was the impact of that fracture [the family breakup] on you at that time?
I think we all just matured a bit quickly. And actually, my mum suffered from schizophrenia. And she was a wonderful person, looked after loads of people, loving, but you know, the pressure would build up. And, you know, you could see when she was getting tired, things would get worse. And so there was always this slight management, my sisters particularly trying to look after her rather than the parents looking after us. And I guess for me, in many ways, my three sisters really kind of brought me up. They helped with my homework. They were the people who kind of ran the house, really.
Presenter asks
10:50Do you think that some of this [your family background] is only becoming clear to you now that you are older?
I think it's partly getting to the age where you have midlife crises. It's partly being asked to do something like this, doing the work that I've done, making a film about Amy and looking at her issues and realising I'm telling the story of someone who's suffering from some form of mental illness. And actually, I want to empathise for this character. Why are we laughing at this person? She needs help. Somewhere subconsciously, I know there were people that would have laughed at someone like my mum and the things that she went through as I was growing up and we were covering it up. But actually, now people are more open to talk about mental illness.
Presenter asks
30:29What advice would you give to aspiring filmmakers who might be listening to this and are just at the beginning of their journeys?
I think for filmmakers, if you want to be a director, I think the idea is to figure out what is it that makes you different and what makes you unique. And you are special and you have stories that are great stories. Don't copy what other people are doing. Find a way to tell your own stories. They may not literally be about you living in your house with your parents, but it's something that you're into that makes you different. And to practice and to finish what you start, don't quit. That's really important.
“I've grown up having a kind of Indian background, but being a Londoner, feeling very European and going on a 73 bus to the West End, it was just normal being surrounded by people who were from different parts of the world, ate different food. So when I got into movies, that was my opportunity to travel and understand people and understand cultures and then try to tell stories.”
“I think we all just matured a bit quickly. And actually, my mum suffered from schizophrenia. And she was a wonderful person, looked after loads of people, loving, but you know, the pressure would build up. And, you know, you could see when she was getting tired, things would get worse. And so there was always this slight management, my sisters particularly trying to look after her rather than the parents looking after us.”
“Honest truth is while my GCSEs were going on, at the same time my mum was in a hospital, you know, in a mental hospital, and having electric shock treatments. And I never spoke to anyone. You didn't go to your teachers or talk to your friends about any of that stuff. You know, it was an interesting thing because it made me realise I really couldn't care less about exams. I don't want to be judged on one day if there's something going on at home. So I made a pact to myself saying I'm never going to sit in an exam ever again. And I never have.”
“I don't necessarily feel in the centre of the business, but I've been around long enough. I've made enough movies. I know people now to feel like I'm a part of the UK industry.”
“I think the book that I go back to and I've always found quite inspirational was the autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley and Malcolm X. You know, he's a street guy who's a hustler who comes from a violent world who somehow goes through life and changes and becomes a man of peace. And it's an amazing story. An incredible journey of a man.”