We Will Doc You: Getting It Back: The Story of Cymande (12A)

Each month for We Will Doc You,  we curate a one-off screening of a different music documentary.

The film might be one of the latest releases, offering a contemporary take on a piece of music heritage. Or it might be from the huge back catalogue of titles from years gone by – dusted off for another rare play on the big screen.

What’s guaranteed is a monthly groovy movie screening for you to doc out to. If you love films that get that backstage look behind some of the best artists, bands, and movements in music, this one is for you.

Cymande are the greatest band you’ve likely never heard of and this is their incredible untold story.
Formed in south London by musicians who came to the UK from the Caribbean as part of the Windrush generation and led by Patrick Patterson (guitar) and Steve Scipio (bass), they combined jazz, funk, soul, and Caribbean grooves to create a new sound.

Despite finding success in the US with their first three brilliant albums they faced indifference through prejudice at home, became disillusioned, and disbanded in 1975. But their music lived on as new generations of artists, in the UK and the US discovered, sampled, and reworked their pioneering sounds, taking their music to new audiences.
Illustrated with archival footage, the story of these unsung heroes is told on screen through new interviews with the original band members filmed over two years.

”This is not a rags-to-riches story; it’s not even quite one of triumph over adversity, although there are elements of this. Instead, it’s more a case of determination, longevity and passion against the odds.” – on: yorkshire magazine

”absolute riot of fun and funk.” –  ★★★★★ FilmHounds

”The Second Life of a cruelly ignored UK Funk band” – ★★★★ The Guardian

”If you want to know why the 1970s British band Cymande didn’t become as well-known as American counterparts such as Parliament-Funkadelic, this illuminating documentary tells a fascinating, heart-wrenching, and informative story” – Culture Mix

Director – Tim Mackenzie-Smith

• Seating accessibility information

  Cinema

  Seat size

  Seats in the Cinema are 45cm (172/3“) wide and 46cm (18“) deep, are 40cm (152/3“) from the floor, and have 12cm (42/3“) between seats.

  Armrests

  Seats in the Cinema have armrests that do not fold away, and cannot be completely removed.

  Legroom

  Seats in the cinema have 30cm (112/3”) of legroom in front of seats, with additional legroom on row A and seats B1-B4 and B11-B14.

  Further information

  If you have any questions about accessibility our Box Office team are always happy to help and can be contacted on 01642 525199 or by emailing [email protected] - you can also tell us about your access requirements when prompted to do so during the online booking process.

• BBFC rating information (may contain spoilers)

  violence

  There is footage of real violence in the form of racially motivated rioting and clashes with police at protest events; these include people being grabbed and restrained by police, cars burning, and Molotov cocktails being thrown. We also see police officers swinging batons at people, though impacts are largely hidden from sight.

  discrimination

  Archive news footage from the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s shows images of racist graffiti as well as a man ranting aggressively at the camera in a racist manner; these include spoken and written uses of the racist term ‘n****r’. Other footage features people displaying dated racist attitudes toward non-white immigrants; a UK white nationalist march and a man expressing white nationalist political views; and racially motivated protests and rioting in the US and UK. A black man remembers being subjected to racism growing up in Britain. There are verbal references to historic institutional racism in the police and the difficulty experienced by black music artists to appear on British television in the 1970s. All racist attitudes are implicitly condemned by the film.

  flashing/flickering lights

  This work contains flashing images which may affect viewers who are susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy.

  There is mild bad language (‘shit’, ‘crap’, ‘bloody’) as well as milder terms which include ‘freaking’ and ‘damn’. There is a fleeting, undetailed verbal reference to drugs.