BAFTA win for Hackney director Asif Kapadia

Asif Kapadia at the UK premiere of Amy

Hackney director Asif Kapadia triumphed at Sunday’s BAFTA awards ceremony, winning the Best Documentary Award for his film about the life and career of singer Amy Winehouse.

Amy looks at the life of the troubled jazz singer, who died in 2011 aged 27, using interviews with friends and family as well as archival footage.

Kapadia, 44, who was born and grew up in Hackney, will now be hoping to make it a clean sweep at the Oscars, at which Amy will be vying for Best Documentary Feature.

In his acceptance speech for the award, at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, Kapadia said: “We really fell in love with [Amy Winehouse] when making the film. And our aim and mission was to try and tell the truth about her. To show the world what an amazing person she was, how intelligent, how witty, how beautiful she was, before it all kind of got out of control and went a bit crazy.”

The director last month revealed that he is working on a new documentary about the Argentine football legend Maradona.