Rudeboy: The Story of Trojan Records

  • Nicolas Jack Davies
  • United Kingdom, Jamaica
  • 2018
  • 86 min
  • Dutch Premiere
  • Best of Fests

You can’t smoke an appropriate joint in the cinema, but with the fantastic lineup of reggae artists in this ode to the famous British label Trojan Records, you won’t be able to sit still. The point of departure is 1950s Jamaica, where rhythm and blues gave birth to the up-tempo dance music of ska, which would later evolve into rocksteady and reggae. Through the stories of musicians, producers and others, and illustrated by nostalgic, dramatic reconstructions, Rudeboy: The Story of Trojan Records interweaves the emergence of an influential musical movement with post-colonial history.

The thousands of Jamaicans who immigrated to Britain after independence brought a musical gift with them that the British gratefully opened and made their own. Jamaican-born Lee Gopthal set up Trojan Records and introduced ska, rocksteady and reggae to a wider audience. While the first generation of Jamaican immigrants often lived in the margins of British society, artists like Jimmy Cliff, Lee “Scratch” Perry, Desmond Dekker and Toots and the Maytals grew to be stars.

Credits

  • 86 min
  • color / black and white
  • DCP
  • Spoken languages: English
  • Subtitles in: Not applicable
Director
Nicolas Jack Davies
Production
Isabel Davis, Vivienne Perry / Pulse Films, Sam Bridger / Pulse Films
Executive producer
Marisa Clifford, Thomas Benski, Brian Levy, Kathy Daum
Cinematography
Jonas Mortensen
Editing
Chris Duveen

IDFA history

2018
Dutch Premiere
Best of Fests

Share this film

Print this page

IDFA history

This website uses cookies.

By using cookies we can measure how our site is used, how it can be further improved and to personalize the content of online advertisements.

Read
 here everything about our cookie policy. If you choose to decline, we only place functional and analytical cookies