'Backspot' star Kudakwashe Rutendo praises film for showing that cheerleading is a sport

Following its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) last year, D.W. Waterson's movie Backspot, starring Devery Jacobs, Kudakwashe Rutendo and Evan Rachel Wood, executive produced by Elliot Page's Page Boy Productions, has had its theatrical release. A coming-of-age story set in the world of cheerleading, Backspot has a unique intensity and vibrancy, a delightful approach to a sports drama.

In Backspot Riley (Jacobs) is a backspot on her cheerleading team, the position that critically ensures the flyer is safe in a stunt. Riley is in a position to step up her cheerleading when pro coach Eileen McNamara (Wood) offers Riley a spot on an All Star team.

But with an All Star team comes more intensity, pressure, anxiety and doubt, while Riley is also experiencing the joys of young love with girlfriend Amanda (Rutendo), who is on squad as well.

For Rutendo, she came into Backspot with cheerleading experience herself, describing working on the movie like "coming home" to the sport.

"I did cheer for a long time and it was really fun for me to see the cheer world captured in the way it was, because ... you very rarely see cheer as the sport, it is oftentimes a piece of story, or it's an accessory to another sport," Rutendo who lives in Toronto, but was born and raised in Alberta, told Yahoo Canada. "I think it's still trying to break that stereotype, to have this whole movie focused on cheer and how hard it is, and how mentally taxing it can be, which is really fantastic."

While Rutendo had been focused on acting, her sisters cheer and working on Backspot allowed Rutendo to reconnect with her family about the sport.

"It kind of felt like I had lost that part of myself and I had lost that connection with them, and I keep hearing them talking about competitions or trying to get the same tumbling move, and I just couldn't relate," Rutendo said. "So the second I found out that I booked Backspot, I messaged the family group chat, I was like, 'I'm trying to do this. I'm trying to get this back.'"

"It was a world that I was so familiar with, I was captain in high school, I knew the ins and out of cheer so much, so it was fantastic, really, to step back into it."

'All you want is to be captured as a human'

A highlight for Rutendo in Backspot, going right back to the audition stage, is how Riley and Amanda's queerness and race are not the source of tension or drama in the story.

"None of the tension of the story lies in their queerness, about whether or not there'll be accepted by those around them," Rutendo said. "That is who they are and informs how they act, and it informs obviously their life and their relationships, but it's not the basis of the story. ... It's not like they're facing any tensions for being queer, and I really like that."

"I also felt the same way of how the story approached Amanda, ... there's no conflict with her being Black, and I love that as well. ... I feel especially when you come from these communities that are either historically underrepresented in media, or just stereotypically represented, all you want is to be captured as a human. You're queer, but that isn't the summation of who you are. And also your entire existence isn't just conflict and the tension that is coming out, or anything like that. There's so much light and fun and beautiful moments."

'It's just like seeing art in motion'

Rutendo also stressed that Waterson was a particularly collaborative director who really worked to establish the motivations for each character.

"Their willingness to dedicate so much time to working with their actors, and also making sure that things are flowing, we broke down every single scene in the movie," Rutendo said. "Just motivations, dialogue, what wasn't working, backstory, anything to help me like feel more grounded in Amanda, and they were just so willing to put in that time. And I was so grateful to have it."

"On set, they know what they want. They have a vision. They're still methodical and quick with what they want. I love that. It's not like we're just hoping that something is going to land, they have a vision and so many of the amazing shots are just them thinking on the fly. ... It was amazing. It's just like seeing art in motion and just seeing how their mind works, and trying to get a glimpse into it."