"Senna" by Asif Kapadia

 

The passion of Ayrton as told in the gospels of Asif: Senna (2010) is not a conventional sports biopic, yet it fully embraces the charisma, drama, and emotion that characterized the life of its subject, Brazilian racecar driver Ayrton Senna. In his take on Senna’s career and his death in 1994 on the track at Imola, British director Kapadia avoids any “single truth,” presenting only the voices of many witnesses and the somewhat grim, degraded video and television footage from the era (including broadcasts as well as material shot behind the scenes). Kapadia acknowledges the gray areas of history, the places where fragments of myth and fact can no longer be easily distinguished.  

 

Unreleased in Austria, “Senna” will receive its sole theatrical presentation at the Film Museum.