Last night, a packed Everyman Kings Cross cinema in London witnessed the first screening of Have You Got It Yet? The Story of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd. An event mainly for family, friends and those involved with the film in some way, the guest list stretched so far that they had to devote both auditoriums to the screening! It felt like a bit of a “who’s who” of Syd’s world were there to witness an absolutely superb documentary about the life of Barrett, from his very early days through to the genesis of Pink Floyd, his solo career after, and then on to a quiet life in Cambridge back as Roger, with the Syd persona left behind in London. A straw poll after showed that the film gave an excellent insight into Barrett, his life and career, for those who were novices AND those who had followed Barrett’s life for many years. There was some incredible footage, and photographs, which had never been shown before, ranging from early Floyd gigs to pictures of Barrett at Abbey Road Studios during the recording of the Wish You Were Here album. The film is at turns funny, touching, revelatory, absorbing and also there’s sections which are sad. At times, there’s opportunities to dispel certain myths about the man, and to give more background to Barrett the man. It’s a film that has been in the works for many years, with Storm Thorgerson working alongside Roddy Bogawa on it in his final few years, and it does seem to form a tribute to Thorgerson as well, with his presence felt through the film, not least from pithy off-screen comments. Typical Storm! The film will be screened at Everyman Cinemas in the UK from May 15th, with the US Canada getting their opportunity from June. SydBarrettFilm.com (https://www.SydBarrettFilm.com) is the place to check out for the latest information on the film, its screenings, and hopefully a later home release either on streaming or physical media. It really is a film that deserves your efforts in getting to a participating screen. The intro by Bogawa that took place in the bar before the film, was filmed by Marcelo Paulo de Souza for our friends at Pink Floyd Collectors and here it is – it gives a flavour of the breadth of previously unseen material in the film, and some background to the making of it.
