Synopsis
"I've had a strange year," says Colin Benders, also known as Kyteman, the front man of the eponymous Dutch hip-hop orchestra that became wildly famous in 2009. Nonetheless, believing in the need to let go, to take risks and longing for change, he decided that same year that Kyteman's Hip-Hop Orchestra would give its last concert in December. In Kyteman. Now What?, director Menna Laura Meijer films Benders for the year and a half following this artificial end, or new beginning, during which he struggles to rediscover his creative energy. The uncompromising Benders doesn't shy away from thinking big, but practical issues can get in his way. The young musician is remarkably candid about his doubts and fears. The film shows him during rehearsals and we see him interact with his parents. His mother is Benders's emotional touchstone, while his father is also his manager. He is the driving force behind the realization of his son's dream: the creative playground "Kytopia," a musical laboratory where Benders wants to invite other "creative idiots" to reinvent the rules. Benders lights up because of the freedom offered to him at Oerol, an annual art and theater festival on the Dutch island of Terschelling, while an experimental concert project at the Radio Kootwijk radio station is scrapped because Benders is told that they'll have to keep the noise down. "No one can restrict my music."