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Oscar-nominated actor Delroy Lindo has wrapped production in Jamaica on Jabari’s People, his feature directorial debut and a deeply personal family drama bringing together a major international cast and a strong contingent of Jamaican talent.
The film, which recently completed a 22-day shoot in Kingston, stars Lindo alongside Black Panther actor Winston Duke, acclaimed British actress Marianne Jean-Baptiste, The Wire star Wendell Pierce and rising 17-year-old actor Seyi Andes-Pelumi.
Set between Brooklyn and Jamaica’s Blue Mountains, Jabari’s People follows Jabari, a gifted but defiant Brooklyn teenager who is sent to Jamaica to live with his estranged grandparents following the sudden death of his mother.
What begins as an unwanted exile develops into a journey through grief, identity, family and inheritance, forcing Jabari and three generations of his family to confront wounds that have remained unspoken.
For Lindo, whose parents were Jamaican, bringing the story to the island has been especially meaningful.
“From the time I got the rights, I knew I was going to direct this,” Lindo told The Hollywood Reporter, adding that the story “touched me in my soul as a person of Jamaican extraction.”
The veteran actor said seeing the film finally come alive after years of trying to get it made has also produced some surreal moments.
“I’ve had a pinch me moments as actors have turned in performances or said lines in a certain way that was on the page,” he said. “They’re bringing the actual words to life. I’m pinching myself and saying, ‘Oh, it’s really happening.’”
Seyi Andes-Pelumi COURTESY OF LUMOSIA
Lindo first encountered the story in 2015, when the project came to him as a potential acting role in an independent film. That version ultimately did not materialise, but when the screenplay rights became available in 2021, Lindo optioned them with the intention of directing the film himself.
Written by Daoud Abeid and Dakhil Hausif, the movie places Andes-Pelumi at the centre of the story as Jabari. Duke plays his overwhelmed father, Jean-Baptiste portrays his emotionally intuitive grandmother and Lindo plays his disciplined grandfather. Pierce appears as a doctor within the family’s New York community.
Andes-Pelumi, a London-based actor of Jamaican heritage, is making his feature-film debut in the lead role. His previous credits include the CBBC comedy-drama Lagging and BBC limited series Crongton.
The production also gave the young actor his first opportunity to visit Jamaica — an experience that mirrored aspects of his character’s own journey.
“I had wanted to explore my culture and heritage,” Andes-Pelumi told The Gleaner. “Jabari is from Brooklyn and comes to Jamaica for the first time, and he is doing that. So, whilst filming, it’s almost as if I am learning at the same time.”
He also spoke about drawing on his own personality to explore Jabari’s grief and vulnerability, and credited Lindo with creating an environment in which he felt comfortable taking those emotional risks.
Lindo, meanwhile, has been particularly vocal about the Jamaican talent assembled for the production.
The wider cast includes Jamaican actors Rolando Alberts, Sekai Smart-Macaulay, Kimberly Patterson, Jeff Crossley, Kadeem Wilson, Sule Thelwell, Everaldo Creary and Djamari Roberts.
Speaking separately with The Gleaner about the local talent involved in the production, Lindo said the experience reinforced his belief in the depth of Jamaica’s acting community.
“They have corroborated something for me that I know about Jamaica, the fact that there is such a wealth of talent here that needs to be given opportunity and access,” he said.
“What is beautiful about it is that none of them have let me down,” Lindo added. “They have all filled the spaces I needed them to fill and manifested the story.”
Lindo said the Jamaican actors had repeatedly risen to the demands of the production, whether he was interacting with them as their director, fellow actor or scene partner.
“Each of these guys have done their part, and then some, in terms of assisting me with the vision I have for this film, and what I want to say about Jamaica and Jamaicans,” he said.
The project also marks a significant new chapter for Lindo after decades in front of the camera. His screen career includes collaborations with Spike Lee on Malcolm X, Crooklyn, Clockers and Da 5 Bloods, while his performance in Sinners earned him an Academy Award nomination.
Lindo said he did not formally seek directing advice from filmmakers he has worked with, including Lee, Ryan Coogler and Ron Howard, but instead paid close attention to how they operated on their sets.
He singled out Coogler’s calm and focused leadership style, saying the director’s approach creates “a clarity of objective” that filters through a production.
Directing himself, however, required Lindo to change habits developed over decades as an actor. Rather than retreating after completing a scene to prepare privately for the next, he found himself needing to remain engaged with his cinematographer and other crew members on the technical and creative requirements of the production.
“I’ve had to open myself up and be more available,” he said of the adjustment.
Beyond telling one family’s story, Lindo hopes Jabari’s People will serve as an homage to Jamaica and expose international audiences to dimensions of the country that are not frequently depicted on the big screen, including its spiritual life.
The film is produced by Lindo through his Mudtop Productions banner alongside Robert A. Maylor, Lena Cordina and Natalie Thompson. Susan Rockefeller, Regina K. Scully and Melony Lewis are executive producers, with IAG representing distribution rights.
No firm release date has been announced. Lindo told The Gleaner that the filmmakers are nurturing a connection with the Toronto International Film Festival and that his hope is for Jabari’s People to reach audiences in 2027.
For Lindo, however, completing the Jamaican production already represents the realisation of a project more than a decade in the making — one that connects his first outing as a feature-film director with his family’s Jamaican roots and a new generation of Jamaican talent.
English (US) ·