[ad_1]
Just five months after “Framing Britney Spears,” Curious Films’ new documentary “Reclaiming Amy,” about late singer Amy Winehouse, takes a similar approach by examining the real woman behind the paparazzi photos.
Just two years apart, Spears and Winehouse dominated the mid-2000s tabloids headlines with their public tussle although unlike Spears, Winehouse’s story ended in tragedy, the youngster of 27 years old dying of alcohol poisoning in 2011.
“About 18 months ago we predicted that the tenth anniversary was on the horizon and we kind of asked ourselves, ‘Is there something to be told with the Amy Winehouse story that doesn’t ‘hasn’t been covered in other movies before?’ “Dov Freedman, co-founder of Curious Films and executive producer of” Reclaiming Amy, “said Variety.
After contacting Winehouse’s mother, Janis, Freedman and Curious Films co-founder Charlie Russell, was invited to her home for “a cup of tea” where they quickly realized “there was a story to be told here. that had never been told before, a version of Amy who [her parents] weren’t allowed to share, really.
Once Freedman and Russell were convinced the project had legs, they presented it to the BBC, who commissioned it for BBC Two. “It’s a golden age for documentaries and factual storytelling right now,” notes Freedman. “There is a huge appetite. “Reclaiming Amy” airs in the UK on Friday, marking the 10th anniversary of the singer’s death.
Winehouse’s life has of course been reviewed onscreen before, most notably in Asif Kapadia’s Oscar-winning documentary “Amy,” which is the subject of criticism from Winehouse’s parents, Janis. and Mitchell, in “Reclaiming Amy” (even the title of the Curious Films documentary can be read as a reproach.)
“I think one of the things that [Janis] I found the most painful thing about her daughter’s story since her death is that she came from an unhappy and loveless family and that sort of led to her problems later in life ”, explains Freedman. “To get the tale to revolve around that, I mean, it was incredibly difficult for Janis, so I think that’s what we tried to do with these archives. [of family photographs and videos] is just painting a picture of a girl – a very normal girl – who came from a very normal family. “
With Janis and Mitchell both in their 60s, and Janis suffering from multiple sclerosis, the COVID crisis presented an acute challenge to running the film but, for Freedman, the biggest challenge “was winning the trust of the people. people we wanted to be in. the movie, ”he says. “We thought it was important that it wasn’t just Janis, but really those closest to Amy, who had never spoken before.”
One person close to Amy who does not appear in the film, however, is Blake Fielder-Civil, the singer’s ex-husband, who has been accused of introducing her to hard drugs. “[Her marriage] isn’t something we dwell on for very long in the movie, because I think people have heard that story, ”says Freedman. “What the movie is trying to do is sort of redefine who Amy was and she’s not defined by that relationship with Blake and those 12 months where, you know, there was a well-documented fight with drugs. . “
Coincidentally, while directing “Reclaiming Amy”, Curious Films was also finishing “Caroline Flack: Her Life and Death”, a Channel 4 documentary released in March about the British presenter “Love Island” who committed suicide. in 2020 pending trial for assault. “The fact that we have these two films in production at the same time is not a deliberate creative strategy around the company – far from it,” Freedman said.
“What I would say is that we like to watch stories that people think they know, but actually don’t know the real side of it. It’s appealing to any documentary maker and we love to bring that documentary quality to popular topics.
Likewise, Freedman says that “Framing Britney Spears” did not have a direct influence on “Reclaiming Amy” – Curious Films was already a year into the Winehouse project by the time “Framing Britney Spears” was released in February – but the two films are similar in their examination of the agency of each singer in his own life and the sexism inherent in their treatment by the media. “I think we were like, ‘Well why do male rock stars come out in a burst of glory – why is it almost celebrated, but with female stars they are often seen as this tragic figure of one way or another? .
“So I think there was definitely an imbalance there that maybe somehow got rectified by re-evaluating these stories, whether it was Britney, Amy or Caroline.”
[ad_2]
Source link