POV's Documentary Blog

Documentary Year in Review Countdown #9: 'Senna' Breaks U.K. Box-Office Records

We’re counting down the top documentary news of 2011 on New Year’s Eve!

The documentary about Brazilian Formula One driver Ayrton Senna (made exclusively from archival media) earned £375,000 ($614,000) in its June opening weekend in the UK, blowing away the previous record holder, Kevin Macdonald’s Touching The Void, which had earned about £100,000 in 2004.

Read an interview with Senna director Asif Kapadia on POV’s blog.

The 2011 Documentary Year in Review Countdown…

#12: Online payments
Ford Foundation Funds Webified Documentaries

#11: Off-camera confrontation
Michael Moore Sues the Weinsteins over ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’ Accounting

#10: A film by you
‘Life In A Day,’ a Documentary Culled from 80,000 Filmmakers, Premieres Online

#9: Cameraless documentary
‘Senna’ Breaks U.K. Box-Office Records

#8: Mobile device legend
Cinéma Vérité Pioneer Richard “Ricky” Leacock Dies

#7: Good karma
‘My Reincarnation’ Breaks Records on Kickstarter

#6: Seeing is beliebing
3-D Documentaries Hit Theaters

#5: Risks become real
War Documentarian Tim Hetherington (‘Restrepo’) Killed in Action

#4: No flash in the pan
Popcorn.js Brings HTML5 and Interactivity to Documentaries

#3: Mystery man
What if Banksy Wins an Oscar?

#2: Web threats
The Stop Online Privacy Act Catches the Web Off Guard

#1: Freedom fighters
The West Memphis 3, Subjects of the ‘Paradise Lost’ Documentary Series, Are Set Free