I have made over 40 documentaries on arts subjects, most of them devoted to the art of cinema. During the course of a lengthy career over five decades, I have had the privilege of completing four documentaries covering the life and career of the great Stanley Kubrick, and the result now is what I hope will be considered a definitive portrait of a true cinematic genius. Kubrick died when he was completing his final film, Eyes Wide Shut, and his close-knit family did me the honour of inviting me into their home to reflect on the man and his work, just days after he left us. He is buried in the garden of the home he loved, and I was given permission to visit there and pay my respects. Many of these conversations with his wife and daughters have never been seen or heard before. They seek to dispel the myth that he was some kind of deranged reclusive such as the rumours that were prevalent at the time of his death. Instead, we have a picture of a loving family man as well as, quite clearly, a workaholic, but one who concentrated his energies in an exact location that provided the succour and support he needed: his home. Generations of living and dead filmmakers have been influenced and guided by the brilliance and precision of Kubrick’s methodology, as will be many more generations of them to come. I am proud to have been able to play a small role in documenting the life and work of one of the greatest directors of all time, consigning it to the care of many, as yet unborn, future carriers of that cinematic torch we all aspire to.

Paul Joyce