The second Island Music Conference came to an exhilarating close on Sunday, February 25, with the highly anticipated première of Bad Like Brooklyn Dancehall in Jamaica for the first time. Read more

Reggae fans, do yourselves a favor and add this crucial documentary to your watch list: Bad Like Brooklyn Dancehall. The film chronicles the growth of dancehall from its roots amongst Kingston sound systems to its crosspollination via the Jamaican diaspora of New York City. Read more

In this 90-minute documentary directors Ben DiGiacomo and Dutty Vannier explore how dancehall music and culture made its way from the Caribbean to New York City in the 1980s and ‘90s, helping Caribbean people retain their cultural identity and pride. Read more

A compelling introduction to the cultural history of the Jamaican musical genre dancehall, Ben DiGiacomo and Dutty Vannier’s “Bad Like Brooklyn Dancehall” sheds light on what one interviewee calls the associated “attitude, culture, and lifestyle” that crops up around dancehall music. Read more

Directed by Ben DiGiacomo and Dutty Vannier, the documentary was produced by A9NY Studio in association with Decentralized Pictures, the nonprofit co-founded by filmmaker Roman Coppola that leverages crypto tokens and a community voting model to support the cinematic arts. Read more

Within the diverse pool of talent on show, six promising filmmakers from New York — all nominees of the Tribeca Festival First Time Filmmakers award — were given the spotlight to present new work within the expansive Chelsea Factory venue. Read more

Manhattan’s Spring Studios was full of excitement last week as the premiere of Bad Like Brooklyn Dance Hall was unveiled, complete with an immersive performance after the showing of the film. Shaggy’s highly anticipated documentary, that explores the emergence of dancehall in New York City during the ’80s and ’90s, made it’s debut on Friday at The Indeed Theater. Read more

The Tribeca Festival was transformed into Jamaican music excellence when Grammy-Award winning dancehall reggae artist Shaggy and a slew of other dancehall artists, deejays, and record industry hotshots arrived last Thursday, for the world premiere of “Bad Like Brooklyn Dancehall”. Read more

You can watch an exclusive clip from Bad Like Brooklyn Dancehall below, followed by DiGiacomo and Vannier’s conversation with Realscreen, which was conducted ahead of the doc’s world premiere at Tribeca. Read more

If you’ve heard “It Wasn’t Me” by Shaggy, been seduced by Sean Paul’s accent or even bobbed your head to Justin Bieber’s “Sorry,” you’ve discovered dancehall. Read more

As this insightful film debuted at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival, Awards Radar caught up with the directing duo to discuss the extensive collaborations and cultural significance behind the filmmaking. Read more

This year’s Festival, which takes place June 7-18, showcases the best emerging talent from across the globe alongside established household names. Read more

The Better Angels Society announced the recipients of this year’s Better Angels Lavine Fellowship, a component of The Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film, which provides funding to works in progress telling America’s diverse stories. Read more

The Hyphen Grant supports projects that highlight the cultural richness, complexity and quirks of the Caribbean-American experience. Read more

Our fifth episode features Decentralized Pictures' Gotham Award Winning documentary, "15th Parish" and the team behind it all! Executive produced by the one and only, Shaggy. Read more

Decentralized Pictures Foundation runs a democratic film fund that allows our online community of creatives, film fans, and industry professionals to decide who is most deserving of our support. Read more

DOC NYC’s 2021 Only In New York program features a final list of 45 projects that were chosen by DOC NYC Director of Filmmaker Development Caitlin Boyle. This program is co-presented by Showtime Documentary Films. Read more