Feature documentaries on sporting figures are not common, especially considereing the money and attention generated through professional sport. Documentaries on Soccer, basketball, baseball, boxing are out there, but motorsport seems under represented. The 2003 MotoGP film FASTER is often cited as the best recent documentary in this category.
Now it’s joined by a feature examining the career of three times Formula One world champion, the late Ayrton Senna. And it’s getting a huge launch in Australia. On Wednesday 20 July, 2011 the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, in conjunction with Universal Pictures will roll out the red carpet in Melbourne for the Australian Premiere of SENNA.
The highly anticipated film follows Senna through his F1 career from its start in 1984 to its sudden and tragic end at Imola in 1994. The film unveils previously unseen footage from Formula One Management (FOM) as well as personal and private footage supplied by the Senna family, who gave their full support to director Asif Kapadia, and writer Manish Pandey. The audience is treated to unprecedented access inside driver briefings and team garages, giving great insight into Ayrton Senna and what it was that made him so special.
The strong appeal of the film has already captured the hearts of F1 fans and film-goers alike. After winning the 2011 World Cinema Documentary Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival, SENNA went on to break the records for the highest grossing opening weekend for a documentary film in British cinema history.
SENNA will be released officially in Australian theatres on Thursday 11 August, 2011.
