In 1969, one of the world’s first supergroups, ‘Blind Faith’, comprising Stevie Winwood, Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and Ric Grech, played their debut concert in London’s Hyde Park. This previously unseen footage of the events of that day remained untouched until 2008.

“There was about 28 minutes of raw footage in total, including images of the concert, the audience (which included Mick Jagger and Ken Kesey) and those who went to Hyde Park simply to participate in the experience. Among the crowd and the images of the ‘jeunesse dorée’ there is a definite sense of ‘fin de siècle’, the intimation of something darker creeping in around the edges. We decided to cut the film as a poignant reflection on the ‘end of an era’, the drawing to a close of the ‘golden idealism’ of the 1960’s” says Sadia.

“We agreed that aside from being the best performance of the set, the song ‘Can’t Find My Way Home’ seemed to encapsulate the zeitgeist” says Stephen. “I faced the challenge of restoring the sound from a single microphone recording of the concert, so I split the sound up into four bandwidths in order to gain some control over the balance. I also had to employ some sophisticated techniques to reduce noise and distortion, and, although the recording is mono, I added some stereo ambience to give it more depth and realism.”

This film was premiered as part of the Cinémathèque Française screenings in Paris in June 2008.

produced by Sadia Sadia (2008) and Anthony Stern (1969)

edited by Sadia Sadia and Stephen W Tayler

audio post-production by Stephen W Tayler

filmed by Anthony Stern and Mick Csáky

sound recorded by David Gale

directed by Anthony Stern

IMDb entry

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