Musician Colin Benders was eighteen years old when he sat down and created his very first music album. As it turned out, this album became a huge success. Yet he nips his own success story in the bud and opts for solitude instead, in order to make space for his personal musical development. Filmmaker Menna Laura Meijer followed him through this process of change.
Kyteman, reinventing the music within
After having a revealing dream, young musician Colin Benders created the irreverent Kyteman. Navigating between funk, jazz and hip hop, today the band has tens of thousands of fans in the world, establishing itself as a reference in the experimentation of urban genres. But success seems to come with a stagnation that Benders´s indomitable soul is not willing to accept.
Kyteman, now what? Shows us the journey of artistic reinvention that Benders undertakes to save himself from the repercussions of his own fame. "When a lot of people tell you you're great, you start believing it." On screen, Benders´s testimonies and those of his musicians and members of his team rebuild Kyteman from the silence of the dressing rooms. A trip to India, an escape to a landscape of snowy mountains, and the embrace of a mother who breaks the distance are some inspiring immersions for a necessary renewal.
In the film directed by Menna Laura Meijer the improvisations and reahearsals of Kyteman during this rest from the stages seem to speak more than words. The film gets hold of the walls of Kytopia, a children's musical creation lab that Benders and his father - who is also their manager - build as a legacy of the band. Finishing his work and shedding embedded egos is not done overnight. Meanwhile, there is always time to reinvent the rules of music.