Academy Award nominee Delroy Lindo is making his feature directorial debut with an impressive ensemble cast featuring Winston Duke, Wendell Pierce, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, and Seyi Andes-Pelumi in the upcoming drama ‘Jabari’s People.’
Bridging the urban backdrop of Brooklyn with Jamaica’s Blue Mountains, the multigenerational family drama follows Jabari, a talented yet headstrong Brooklyn teenager relocated to live with his estranged grandparents after his mother’s unexpected death. What starts as a punitive relocation transforms into an exploration of grief, heritage, and identity as the local community and surrounding environment compel three generations of the family to address longstanding unresolved trauma.
Andes-Pelumi portrays the rebellious teen resisting his new life, while Duke plays his emotionally overburdened father. Jean-Baptiste takes on the role of the empathetic grandmother, with Lindo himself portraying the family’s stern patriarch. Pierce joins the cast as a trusted physician within the family’s New York community.
The ensemble also includes Jamaican actors Rolando Alberts, Sekai Smart-Macaulay, Kimberly Patterson, Jeff Crossley, Kadeem Wilson, Sule Thelwell, Everaldo Creary, and Djamari Roberts.
The project marks the culmination of a decade-long passion project for Lindo, who first encountered the material in 2015 as an acting role for a film that ultimately stalled. When the script rights resurfaced in 2021, he immediately optioned them with the clear intent to step behind the camera, noting how deeply the story resonated with his own Jamaican heritage.
‘Jabari’s People’ is written by Daoud Abeid and Dakhil Hausif. Lindo produces under his Mudtop Productions banner alongside Robert A. Maylor, Lena Cordina, and Natalie Thompson. Susan Rockefeller, Regina K. Scully, and Melony Lewis serve as executive producers, with IAG handling global distribution rights.
The production recently wrapped a 22-day principal photography schedule in Kingston, Jamaica.
–Dominique Young // @heyyydommm