Amy is a 2015 British documentary film directed by Asif Kapadia and produced by James Gay-Rees. The film covers English singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse's life and her struggle with substance abuse, both before and after her career blossomed, and which eventually caused her death.
In February 2015, a teaser trailer based on the life of Winehouse debuted at a pre-Grammys event. David Joseph, CEO of Universal Music UK, announced that the documentary titled Amy would be released later that year. He further stated: "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 premiered in the Midnight Screenings section of the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. Distributed by the Altitude and A24, it was released theatrically on 3 July 2015. The film received critical acclaim, garnering 33 nominations and winning a total of 30 awards, including Best Documentary at the 28th European Film Awards, Best Documentary at the 69th British Academy Film Awards, Best Music Film at the 58th Grammy Awards and the Best Documentary Feature at the 88th Academy Awards. The success of Amy and the music of its soundtrack also led Winehouse to her second posthumous nomination at the 2016 BRIT Awards for British Female Solo Artist.
Synopsis The film narrative is focused on the life of singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse, who was found dead on 23 July 2011 from alcohol poisoning, at the age of 27 at her home in Camden, North London.
The film starts with a 1998 home movie depicting a 14-year-old Winehouse singing along with her long-time friend, Juliette Ashby, at the birthday party of their mutual friend, Lauren Gilbert, at a home in Southgate, London. The rest of the documentary shows the songwriter's life, in a chronological order from her early childhood, to her music career, which attained commercial success through her debut album, Frank (2003), and second, final album Back to Black (2006), to her troubled relationships, self-harm, bulimia, the controversial media attention, and her downfall with her drug and alcohol addiction, all until her death in 2011. Winehouse is featured throughout the film talking about her early influences and how she felt about fame, love, depression, family and her music career.
Kapadia conducted more than 100 interviews with Winehouse's friends and family that combine to provide a narrative around the star's life and is billed as "the singer in her own words." The film shows extensive unseen footage and unheard tracks Winehouse had recorded in the years before she died. Unheard tracks featured in the film are either rare live sessions, such as "Stronger Than Me", "In My Bed", "What Is It About Men?" and Donny Hathaway's "We're Still Friends", a cover of Johnny Mercer's "Moon River" from when Winehouse attended the National Youth Jazz Orchestra at the age of 16 in 2000 or never-before heard songs the star wrote, such as "Detachment" and "You Always Hurt The Ones You Love".
There are various pieces of extensive, unseen archive footage of Winehouse, such as when she is video-recorded in a cab with friend Tyler James in January 2001 and driving to tours and on her long-term friend, Lauren Gilbert's holiday tape in Majorca, Spain in August 2005. The film also shows various interviews, such as with Jonathan Ross, Tim Kash, and a funny video of when Winehouse is interviewed and talked to about singer Dido in 2004, when she promoted her debut album. The documentary also includes when Winehouse performed live from London on the Grammy Awards in 2008, and won the award for "Record of the Year".
The film also features footage from when she was filmed with her ex-husband Blake Fielder-Civil, various performances, and when she auditioned at Island Records in February 2003, singing "I Heard Love Is Blind". Also included is footage from when she was recording her second album in March 2006 and a duet single, "Body and Soul", with Tony Bennett in March 2011 as her last recording before her death. Some outtakes are also featured of her last shambolic performance in Belgrade, Serbia, a month before she died. The film concludes with long-term friend Juliette Ashby talking about her last phone call with Winehouse, footage of Winehouse's body being taken out of her home after her death, and Bennett stating: "Life teaches you really how to live it, if you live long enough." It then shows scenes from three days later of footage from Winehouse's funeral at Edgwarebury Cemetery and Golders Green Crematorium in North London. Closing clips end the film with videos of Winehouse from her early years until her death, with Antonio Pinto's composition, "Amy Forever".
Contributors The following heavily contributed in the documentary through archive footage and recorded interviews:
Amy Winehouse Mitchell Winehouse, father Janis Winehouse-Collins, mother Raye Cosbert, manager and promoter Nick Shymanksy, ex-manager and friend Blake Fielder-Civil (credited as Blake Fielder), ex-husband Tyler James, friend and flatmate Juliette Ashby, friend and flatmate Lauren Gilbert, friend Blake Wood, friend Mos Def (credited as Yasiin Bey), musician Pete Doherty, musician Tony Bennett, musician Mark Ronson, producer Salaam Remi, producer Andrew Morris, bodyguard Cristina Romete, doctor Chip Somers, drug counsellor Sam Beste, pianist Dale Davis, musical director and bass guitarist Shomari Dilon, sound engineer 'Spiky' Phil Meynell, promoter of Trash Club Monte Lipman, chairman & CEO of Republic Records Lucian Grainge, head of Universal Music Group Guy Moot, UK President of Sony/ATV Music Publishing Nick Gatfield, president of Island Records Darcus Beese, A&R of Island Records
Production In 2012, Universal Music first approached film producer James Gay-Rees if the team behind the documentary film about Ayrton Senna would be interested in creating a project on Amy Winehouse.
On 25 April 2013, it was confirmed and announced that the team behind the documentary film Senna (2010), including director Asif Kapadia and Universal Music, were making a film about the late singer-songwriter. It was revealed that the film would be very similar to Senna, and that unseen footage of Winehouse would be shown. Kapadia and Gay-Rees stated: "Everyone fell under her spell. But tragically, Amy seemed to fall apart under the relentless media attention, her troubled relationships, her global success and precarious lifestyle." They introduced the project at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, and it was said the documentary film would be released in 2015.
The film features scenes of Jelena Karleuša's 2013 Viva La Diva concert at Ušće Park erroneously presented as Winehouse's last concert at the Belgrade Fortress. Karleuša announced lawsuits against the filmmakers, before giving up on them out of respect for Winehouse.
Music The documentary features various unheard tracks Winehouse had completed from when her career began in 2003 until her death. The film includes live sessions, such as: "There Is No Greater Love", "Stronger Than Me", "In My Bed", "Rehab" and "What Is It About Men", covers of Johnny Mercer's "Moon River" from when Winehouse was 16 at the National Youth Jazz Orchestra in 2000 and Donny Hathaway's "We're Still Friends" and never-before heard songs the star wrote, such as "Detachment" and the lyrics to "You Always Hurt The Ones You Love", combined with Pinto's composition "Amy Lives". Winehouse is recorded in March 2006 when she is recording her 2007 single "Back to Black" and there are also cuts and edits of her well-known tracks, which helps unveil every piece of footage in the film.
Soundtrack
On 8 October 2015, Island Records announced that the soundtrack for the film would be released on 30 October 2015. The soundtrack includes various tracks that were included in the documentary; including classic tracks from Winehouse and compositions that were featured in the film by composer Antonio Pinto. The soundtrack was later released for the second time on vinyl in the United Kingdom and Ireland on 1 April 2016.
The 23-track album includes well-known tracks by Winehouse, such as "Stronger Than Me", "Tears Dry on Their Own", and "Back to Black", live sessions of "What Is It About Men", "Rehab", "We're Still Friends", and "Love Is a Losing Game", demo tracks; "Some Unholy War" and "Like Smoke"; a cover of The Zutons' "Valerie" performed by Winehouse and Mark Ronson and a 2011 version of "Body and Soul" performed by Winehouse and Tony Bennett. The soundtrack is also the second posthumous compilation album of Winehouse's music.
The commercial success and music behind the film earned Winehouse her second posthumous nomination at the 2016 BRIT Awards for "British Female Solo Artist", won by singer Adele and the film won a Grammy Award for "Best Music Film" at the 2016 Grammy Awards. This was the ninth indication of Amy's career to this award and the third posthumous. In December 2016, the nominations for the 2017 Grammy Awards were announced, and Amy was nominated for Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media.
Release Amy was released on 3 July 2015 in the United Kingdom, New York, and Los Angeles and worldwide on 10 July.
The film had its world premiere at the midnight screenings section at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival on 16 May 2015. Musicians such as HAIM, Leona Lewis, and Emeli Sandé were in attendance and gathered for the event, as well as the film crew. The film received its UK premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in June 2015.
The film received a special screening in cinemas around the United Kingdom on 30 June, which was broadcast live from the London GALA Premiere at the Picturehouse. The screening provided questions from the public on Facebook, Twitter and from the audience. The film director Asif Kapadia, producer James Gay-Rees, and friend Nick Shymansky answered them and concluded with a tribute to Winehouse with her 2007 music video "Love Is a Losing Game".
Marketing On 8 February 2015, a teaser trailer of Amy debuted at the pre-Grammy event in the build-up to the 2015 Grammy Awards. A teaser theatrical poster for the documentary film was released on 18 March 2015 on Twitter, and the first trailer was released on 2 April 2015, with receiving more than two million views Altitude Film's channel on YouTube. Footage from the teaser trailer shows Winehouse as a young woman at the beginning of her music career answering questions about how she sees herself as an artist and how she felt about fame.
Various official teaser clips from the film were released on YouTube to the buildup and throughout the documentary's release in July by Altitude Film and A24, including clips of Winehouse talking about how she felt about depression, how she thinks she would have handled fame from her early years, when she was recording her album Back to Black with her record producer Mark Ronson in March 2006 and when she was videotaped singing the "Happy Birthday" song at the fourteenth birthday party of her friend, Lauren Gilbert, in 1998 which received over one million views after 48 hours. In May 2015, the first teaser clip from the film was released. The short clip features a candid moment of Winehouse messing around with the camera and singing, while Nick Shymanksy, a member of her management team, recalls the beginning of her songwriting process; the video concludes with an unheard track Winehouse had recorded, "Detachment", which was arranged to be on her album Back To Black (2006).