Amy Winehouse Documentary ‘Misleading,’ Says Late Singer’s Family

The family of late singer Amy Winehouse has fiercely criticized a new documentary movie of her life for being “unbalanced” and “misleading.”

Titled Amy, the movie is slated to have its debut screening at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

While it initially received backing from the Winehouse family, the relatives of the Grammy-winning singer – who died at the age of 27 from alcohol poisoning in July 2011 – now wish to “disassociate themselves from the forthcoming film,” says a statement from a family spokesperson.

In particular, the family believe that director Asif Kapadia incorrectly claims the Winehouse family did not support Winehouse when she needed them most.

“It is both misleading and contains some basic untruths,” adds the family statement to PEOPLE.

“The narrative is formed by the testimony of a narrow sample of Amy’s associates, many of whom had nothing to do with her in the last years of her life. Counter views expressed to the filmmakers did not make the final cut.”

In an interview with The Sun on Sunday, Winehouse’s father, Mitch, 64, added, “I felt sick when I watched it for the first time. Amy would be furious. This is not what she would have wanted.”

He also claims the film ignores the crucial role played by Winehouse’s ex-husband Blake Fielder-Civil, 33.

Fundamentally, the family believes that the film misunderstands Winehouse’s condition and the efforts the family and medical professionals made to help her.

Also, they claim the project incorrectly paints Mitch as an absent father who was more intent on pushing the singer onto the stage rather than healing her problems – and has now used the addiction charity set up in Winehous’s name to line his own pockets.

As a consequence Mitch and the family, who have devoted themselves to the Amy Winehouse Foundation, which works to prevent the effects of drug and alcohol misuse on young people, are now considering legal action against the filmmakers.

A spokesperson for the film told PEOPLE, “We came on board with the full backing of the Winehouse family and we approached the project with total objectivity.

“We conducted in the region of 100 interviews with people that knew Amy. The story that the film tells is a reflection of our findings from these interviews.”

— With reporting by Simon Perry

This article originally appeared on PEOPLE.com