Videoropes Releases ‘Reality Of The Dancehall Pt. 2’ Film That Champions Jamaican Culture
Dancehall videographer-turned-film-director ‘Videoropes’ wants to use art to shift narratives and tell beautiful, nuanced stories about black people while also championing his Jamaican culture.
“I want to see more ethnic minorities get better opportunities to be in more films, especially Jamaicans that reflect us and our wonderful unique, culture,” Ropes said.
Videoropes, who now resides in the UK, said that the foundation of modern cinema rested heavily on negative images of Blackness and Black people, and harmful tropes and stereotypes continue to be popular in film.
“We will have a far way to go in terms of black representation,” he said.
In 2015, the viral hashtag #OscarsSoWhite sparked conversations about the ongoing lack of representation in Hollywood. Despite challenges and setbacks, Ropes is locked into promoting his two hour film, ‘Reality of Dancehall pt. 2’.
‘Videoropes’ is known in the UK dancehall circles as a “dancehall video man”, but in 2012, he began to experiment with film directing, and he wrote the scripted, edited and shot his first movie, ‘Reality of the Dancehall’. After the movie premiered at the Odeon Cinema in London, he enrolled himself in college where he studied video editing and then to the University of Art where he studied film directing and script writing.
In 2014, Videoropes started shooting his second movie, ‘Reality of the Dancehall Pt. 2′, but in cruel twist of fate, he lost all the footage because of a defective hard drive.
“It cost me £950 for a company in Canada to rescue the footage. Then in 2020, when I was ready to premiere the Reality of the Dancehall Pt. 2′, the epidemic hit and the world went in to a reset and we were locked down for two years,” he said.
Videoropes is now trying to drum up support for his film and will be releasing it online in an episodic format.
“Reality of the Dancehall Pt. 2’ explores the life and culture of dancehall: music, money and girls. The film takes you behind the scenes of the glitter and the glam, and shows the dark under belly and the reality of the dancehall. It is a eye opener,” he said.
The film features characters like Sue who tries to use another character Bigman (played by Danny Bless) for money. Bigman is a don who lives in London who falls in love with Sue even though he is a married man. Other characters are Sweeper, a womaniser, and Big Mac and Bobo, hit men who do the bidding of the don, Bigman.
“There is a lot of intrigue in it as one of the hitmen, Big Mac, is still in love with his babymom who is in a relationship with Sweeper,” he said.
Videoropes is encouraging the black community to support the film by viewing it on his Youtube channel: ropes podcast.
“We want to see how much people want this product, people are already sharing and we are trying to get a million views and likes on each episode we will get a deal with Netflix to do ‘Reality of the Dancehall Pt. 3’. So share this movie to friends and family, subscribe to the channel, let us set the foundation for the next generation to build on, let’s keep the Jamaican flag flying high,” he said.
In 2017-18, ‘Videoropes’ enrolled at the University of Sunderland in London to study business management where he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree, and then furthered his studies with a Master’s degree in marketing.
“My dream is to tell tales that reflect the black experience, we have an obligation to tell our own stories or someone else will tell our black stories for us,” he said.