Man Ooman
Andreas Johnsen & Rasmus Poulsen:
Man Ooman (Denmark, 2008)
57 min. - English - English subtitles
Man Ooman investigates the culture behind dancehall dancing and tries to find out how this dance became as absurd as it is today. The film is shot in Jamaica, with footage from the most notorious street parties and interviews with some of the biggest dancehall dancers in the world. International reggae superstar Beenie Man talks about the history of dancehall dancing and the interaction dancers and singers have in the dancehall world.
Every single night of the week street dances are kept in different ghettos, where rivaling neighborhoods meet unarmed to have fun. The music is loud and the dancing is wild, sexually explicit and the dancers often utilize props provided by the surroundings. Loudspeakers, trees and cars are all used for dancing a dance that for the untrained eye looks like a combination of fighting and copulation. Where hugging up is against the law, holding hands and kissing is unseen outside the privacy of the home, girls and boys are treated like different species, homosexuality and oral sex is completely banned both socially and by law and where dancing seems like a ventilation device that blows off explosive sexual steam between women and men - or as it is always put in Jamaica - between Man and Ooman.
Remember the Dancehall club at Coikkis after the screening!
—
ANDREAS JOHNSEN
Andreas Johnsen was born 1974 in Copenhagen. He is a documentary filmmaker and producer, lives in Copenhagen, Denmark and works all over the world. Currently he works on his next project, a documentary film discovering the contempary music of East Africa.
RASMUS POULSEN
"About me: I select records and yell on the microphone in the top-ranking reggae soundsystem Rootsman Hi-Fi. I also play alone and spin a multitude of genres. Besides that I make some radio programs." - Rasmus Poulsen Myspace-page
