Asif Kapadia: I didn’t mean to offend

Asif Kapadia never meant to wind anyone up with his Amy Winehouse documentary.

The British filmmaker is behind new feature Amy, which uses unseen footage of the late star and interviews with those closest to her to bring her story to the big screen.

However, not everyone has been complimentary with the finished film, with Amy's father Mitch Winehouse claiming it is full of "basic untruths".

"It was never my intention to wind people up," Asif told Empire magazine.

"It's a bit weird. But there was a point where it was, 'You know what' We've fallen in love with [Amy]. We just want to tell her story'. The clue is in the title. It's about her, not them."

Six-time Grammy winner Amy passed away in July 2011 of alcohol poisoning, at the age of 27.

The archive footage and interviews used in the film has allowed Asif to let audiences see Amy in her own words. When he started the project he had the full blessing of Amy's friends and family, which gave him access to the unseen recordings. However some, including Mitch, soon began to feel like they were being misrepresented.

The filmmaker previously won critical acclaim for 2010 documentary Senna, about Brazilian Formula One racer Ayrton Senna.

While there are some similarities between both subjects (Senna also died young, passing away at 34 during a race. He'd won the F1 championship three times), Asif points out the differences too.

"Amy was an ordinary North Londoner, whereas Senna was from another planet. She was someone I could have gone to school with," he explained.

The hotly-anticipated movie hits cinemas from July 3.