Maradona and the curse of genius

How can those with extraordinary talent survive fame's spotlight? We're struggling, so we went looking for answers in the films of Asif Kapadia, specifically: Senna, Amy and his new documentary, Diego Maradona.

The doc tells the story of the Argentine footballer whose genius touch made him a demi-god to the denizens of his adopted home, Naples. In this episode, the last one of season two of The Bigger Picture, we talk about the personal strain of being a public figure, how talent is co-opted by capitalism and - lofty theory alert! - why talented celebrities are the gods we're allowed to hate.

Diego Maradona is screening at BFI Southbank from Thursday 13th June, when we will host a post-screening Q&A with Asif Kapadia. It's on general release in the UK from Friday 14th June.

The Bigger Picture, presented by the BFI, will return for series 3 in July and is ...

BFI Southbank Programmer Anna Bogutskaya.

BFI Digital editor Henry Barnes

Producer Peter Sale

Make it your goal-aaaaahhh! to check these out:

• Watch the Maradona trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuErPYsoaR4

• The city where Diego Maradona rose from the dead (via The Observer): https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/jun/02/the-city-where-diego-maradona-rose-from-the-dead-documentary-asif-kapadia-senna-amy

• Maradona and the Mercenaries (via The New Yorker): https://www.newyorker.com/sports/sporting-scene/maradona-and-the-mercenaries

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.