THE director of award-winning film Senna is making a documentary about the late soul singer Amy Winehouse.

Focus Features International says the movie will feature unseen archive footage to tell the story of the art and life of the musician, who died at age 27 in London in 2011 from accidental alcohol poisoning.

The Winehouse family said in a statement that it had been approached with many documentary proposals, but Senna director Asif Kapadia and producer James Gay-Rees presented a vision that would "look at Amy's story sensitively, honestly and without sensationalising her".

Senna, the acclaimed 2010 film, focussed on the life of Brazilian F1 driver Ayrton Senna. The champion racer was killed in an accident in 1994.