EXCLUSIVE: When 18-year-old filmmaker Nico Ballesteros began capturing private moments of Kanye West – now known as Ye – he probably had no idea what he was in for. Over the ensuing six years he would shoot thousands of hours of material showing West’s apparent worsening mental health struggles, collapsing marriage to Kim Kardashian, loss of lucrative sponsorships, and disturbing declarations.
Ballesteros’s documentary In Whose Name? chronicling Ye’s inner world will be released by AMSI Entertainment on approximately 1,000 screens on September 19 in partnership with AMC, Regal, and Cinemark theater chains. We have your first look at the film in the teaser above.
“I’m off my meds for five months now,” West declares at the beginning of the teaser. An anguished Kardashian says in a breaking voice, “Your personality was not like this a few years ago!”
Kanye West, now known as “Ye,” in the documentary ‘In Whose Name?‘
AMSI Entertainment
It only gets more dramatic and worrisome from there. Ye vows, “I would rather be dead than be on medication… Either they destroy me or I destroy it.. I’m almost like a masochist… I write whatever I want when I want! It’s words!”
“What began as silent observation evolved into a profound journey of artistic and personal growth,” notes a synopsis of the documentary. “Immersed in Ye’s world of extremes, [Ballesteros] bore witness to brilliance and breakdowns, triumphs and turmoil; but also observed the paranoia and intensity that increasingly shaped Ye’s world.
“In the end, Ballesteros captured not just a portrait of Ye, but a reflection of the human condition in all its contradictions. The camera never blinks as Ye speaks candidly about living with bipolar disorder, offering rare insight into the realities of mental illness and its impact on identity, perception, and power. Through a personal lens, the film considers how mental health is handled – or left unspoken – among the weight of visibility and vulnerability.”
Director Nico Ballesteros
Courtesy of Vaughn Robison
Ballesteros grew up in Orange County, CA, and began shooting videos at the age of 8. “For a shy kid, the camera became both a shield and a window, a way to channel my introspection while still engaging with the world,” he said in a statement. “Ye has always had someone filming him too, a lens between him and the noise. Maybe that’s why we understood each other without saying much. I was able to fade into the background, stay present, the camera always rolling, catching moments outside the public performance.”
Producer Simran A. Singh commented, “This film presents a raw and often unsettling portrait, without commentary or conclusion, leaving viewers to interpret the events for themselves. Nico was living alongside Ye, camera in hand, not fully knowing what he was capturing or where it would lead, and that’s exactly what makes the footage so powerful.”
Producer Simran A. Singh
Courtesy of Berny Flores
“There was no agenda, no filter; just real, raw moments,” Singh continued. “Because of that, there’s a level of honesty you don’t usually get in documentaries. As things started to take shape, it became clear that Nico was the only one who could truly tell this story. He had the access, but more importantly, he had the perspective. He was inside the chaos but somehow still able to step back and find the story to make a movie.”
Kanye West in February 2025
Getty Images
A release about the project explains the meaning of the film’s title, noting it “examines the evolving nature of idolatry, both in Ye’s cultivation of public idolatry and in his pursuit of various idols, from luxury brands and celebrity to faith and family. It also speaks to the director’s deeper creative and spiritual reckoning: Was this film made in Ye’s name, his own, or something greater?”
In Whose Name? marks the directorial debut of Ballesteros, who also produced, shot and edited the film. Jack M. Russell and Justin Staple also serve as editors, Nick Jarjour as executive producer, Shy Ranje and Jack M. Russell as co-producers, and Justin Staple as co-executive producer.
AMSI Entertainment, the film and television production company led by Simran A. Singh, specializes “in culturally resonant stories with global appeal.” Singh’s producing credits include Selena y Los Dinos (acquired by Netflix following this year’s Sundance Film Festival), Reggaeton: The Sound that Conquered the World (Peacock), Mon Laferte, te amo (Netflix), and Selena: The Series (Netflix), among others.
Watch the teaser for In Whose Name? above.
