A new documentary about Kanye West, In Whose Name?, offers an unvarnished look at the artist during six years of upheaval. Directed by first-time filmmaker Nico Ballesteros, the film aggregates roughly 3,000 hours of footage captured largely on iPhones, culminating in a 106-minute cut that runs in select theaters starting Sept. 19. The project, described by its maker as unauthorized, follows West from 2018 through 2024 as he navigates bipolar disorder, a highly publicized divorce from Kim Kardashian, and the fallout that followed his controversial remarks.
Across the six-year span, the documentary assembles material from West’s peak and the moment his public narrative began to fracture. It includes archival footage with collaborators such as Lady Gaga, Drake, LeBron James, Chris Rock, Diddy, Rihanna, Virgil Abloh and Justin Bieber to illustrate the arc of his chart-topping career before the public reckoning. Early scenes acknowledge a cultural moment that, in hindsight, foreshadowed later consequences, including the famous 2009 VMAs moment when West interrupted Taylor Swift.
In a sequence that sets the frame for West's personal struggles, the film captures a conversation with Pharrell Williams in 2018. Williams warns West about how a few missteps can upend years of work, urging caution about public perception, partnerships and mental health. The exchange emphasizes the fragility of a career built on confronting boundaries and audacious statements, and it foreshadows the pressure West would face in the years to come.
Backstage tensions unfold in dramatic fashion. The film shows West clashing with SNL cast member Michael Che after the 2018 season premiere, a moment that was recorded as the cameras followed him through a busy night of music, satire and politics. The documentary also follows a car ride to the White House that fall, including a call with Jared Kushner about how to approach the visit and the desire to be treated as a foreign dignitary.
Footage of West's personal life carries the emotional weight. The film revisits the couple's on-and-off relationship with Kardashian, including moments in which she confronted him in 2018 over plans to move to Chicago and about his medication. West's volatility in those scenes is intercut with family dynamics and the strain of public scrutiny, including a confrontation with Kardashian's mother, Kris Jenner, over the rapper's treatment and medication.
West and Kardashian's split intensified in the following years. Kardashian filed for divorce in 2021, with the divorce finalized in 2022, a milestone the film presents as part of a broader arc of career and personal upheaval. The documentary emphasizes how West's public persona shifted as he lost lucrative deals with Adidas, Gap, Balenciaga and others, and how his responses to the backlash became a central theme of the narrative rather than the sensational remarks themselves.
The final act turns toward the cultural and business fallout that framed West's public life in the early 2020s. In Miami after a West show in 2022, billionaire Elon Musk sits with West and, in a moment captured by Ballesteros, reflects on Kim Kardashian and his relationship with Grimes. The scene blends personal confession with the surreal crossovers of tech, fashion and celebrity culture, and it is one of several moments that illustrate how the documentary can place West’s experiences against a broader pop milieu.
Interwoven throughout are moments that show the documentary's willingness to stay with history as it unfolds. A 2018 clip features Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, seen with West and Candace Owens discussing culture and politics; the footage, filmed years before Kirk’s death in 2025, is kept to show how the film itself is evolving as events continue to cast new light on its subject. Owens reappears later in the film during West's Paris Fashion Week White Lives Matter moment, with Ballesteros noting that the documentary centers on how West responds to backlash rather than the public-fire rhetoric.
The film’s premiere and reception details align with its method: a cinematic diary of a public figure in private moments, the film aims to offer context and nuance in a genre that often amplifies controversy. In Whose Name? opens in limited theaters this week, with Ballesteros noting that the project’s timeline is itself a reflection of history catching up with art. The documentary leaves audiences with a portrait of a complex artist processing fame, fame's failures, and the price of speaking truth to power.