“Cymande are unsung heroes of music, all of whom moved to the UK from the Caribbean as kids and were confronted with a society that didn’t want them. Music was their salvation but still they were denied the platform their talents warranted. Despite success in the US, the UK, their home, ignored them. The band quit, but the music lived on. This movie is about overcoming the odds, it’s about the power of music to spread a message of peace and love. You’ll meet great characters with important stories to tell, and it has the greatest soundtrack you’ll ever hear.” Director Tim Mackenzie-Smith on GETTING IT BACK: THE STORY OF CYMANDE which screens at SxSW 2022.
Welcome to SxSW! Is this your first SxSW experience? Are you attending in person or doing the virtual fest?
We are attending in person and cannot wait!
So how did CYMANDE come together? Give me a rundown from the preparation to execution to now!
I have been a huge fan of Cymande for 25 years and have spent most of that time telling anyone who will listen how amazing they are. In 2015 I went with my producing partner Matt Wyllie, to the band’s first gig back after 40 years in London just as fans not even dreaming that we might end up making movie about them. But in 2017 after five years of making tv sports documentaries we were ready to tell a story we really believed in. The idea came to us actually because we were using a Cymande track called Dove as the opening music for another documentary, and we were asking each other why no one had done a movie on the band. We knew that they had been away for 40 years, and wanted to know why, and what happened to them. So we contacted band leaders Steve Scipio and Patrick Patterson, who thankfully for us were interested and who helped us understand that actually this was a story with way more depth than a standard music film. initially we were just looking to put a treatment and sizzle reel together, but the material we shot for the sizzle reel was so good that we realised that we had to keep going. And keep going we did for another 4 years. I was lucky enough to interview a number of my music heroes, who were either big fans themselves or had been inspired to sample Cymande’s music. It has been an incredible journey. Like many others we faced huge problems when the pandemic hit. We were just about to fly out out to New York for a new round of interviews when we had to stop production for quite a long time. Then as time went on we had to work out how to complete the film without being able to travel. There were times we thought we might never get to this point, and now here we are, about to premiere at SXSW. Incredible.
While working on a project, what’s your creative process?
With this particular film, we were finding the story of we went. So it was about being open minded and going where the story took us. It was about building relationships, finding like minded people who wanted to contribute to a story that might initially feel like a hard sell. But ultimately it was about hard work, constantly questioning how can I make this better, what do we need to do to really do justice to this story. You just keep going until all your questions are answered.
What was your biggest challenge with creating this feature, and what was the moment where you realized “Yes, this is IT!”?
Certainly the pandemic was a massive challenge. I am now used to interviewing people in other countries over Zoom with a local crew in the room filming, but it’s not ideal. But the main challenge has been trying to make ends meet. Constantly trying to find the funds to do the next bit, the next shoot, to pay for archive and so on. And doing it all whilst working numerous other jobs to pay the bills. It can be pretty tiring, but I wouldn’t change anything!
The first moment I realised that we were onto something special was actually really early on. I gathered 5 of the original band members together in a rehearsal space in London and we just filmed them chatting and jamming for 5 hours. It blew my mind, the knowledge and insight, the humour, the fire, the passion. Straight away I knew that we HAD to make this movie. And there have been many, many other moments since.
I am a tech person, so I would love to know about the visual design of the movie from the cameras to the formats used and how it was made from a technical standpoint!
The nature of this film meant that it was filmed over four years by many different camera operators on all sorts of different formats. But luckily, despite the fact that it was shot on Arri, Red, Sony, Canon and even at times my iPhone, it looks incredible. I was concerned that our colorist would hate me due to having to match so many different formats but we completed the grade yesterday and it looks awesome. And I cannot wait to see it and hear the music in all its glory in theatres.
What are you looking forward to the most about showing your movie at SxSW?
I’m most excited just to be in a room with other people, sampling the atmosphere with an audience watching it for the first time. As a filmmaker you watch every frame over and over, and sometimes you can forget what it’s like for a viewer to see it for the first time. But also I can’t wait for Cymande to see it on the big screen! And I’m hoping that the audiences will leave the theatre humming these amazing tunes all the way home.
Where is this title going next? More festivals or a theatrical or streaming release?
That is to be confirmed at the moment. But we expect a decent festival run before it find its right home for wider release
What is the one thing that you would say to someone who is wishing to get into making movies, especially now as the world is changing at such a fast pace?
Find a story that you have to tell, and go for it!
And final question: what is the greatest movie you have ever seen at a film festival?
I might have to be cheeky here and say DOWNTURN, a comedy short directed by some guy called Tim Mackenzie-Smith, that wowed the festival circuit in 2010. Seriously though, it’s impossible for me to say what the greatest is. Today my all time favourite movie is MIDNIGHT RUN, tomorrow it might be CASABLANCA, and the day after that it might be MEAN STREETS!
This film and many others like it will be showing at South By Southwest taking place March 11-20. For more information point your browser to www.sxsw.com!