Winston Duke, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Wendell Pierce and rising actor Seyi Andes-Pelumi are starring alongside Delroy Lindo in Jabari’s People, a Jamaican-set family drama that is serving as the directorial debut for the Oscar-nominated Sinners star.
The feature recently wrapped production in Kingston, Jamaica, after completing a 22-day shoot.
“I’ve had a pinch me moments as actors have had turned in performances or said lines in a certain way that was on the page,” Lindo told The Hollywood Reporter in a call from the set. “They’re bringing the actual words to life. I’m pinching myself and saying, ‘Oh, it’s really happening.’”
Written by Daoud Abeid and Dakhil Hausif, the intergenerational family drama is set between Brooklyn and Jamaica’s Blue Mountains and centers on Jabari, a gifted but defiant Brooklyn teenager who is sent to live with his estranged grandparents following the sudden death of his mother. Per the production notes, what begins as exile becomes an unexpected journey through grief, family, identity, and inheritance as the land and community force Jabari, and three generations of his family to confront wounds that have long gone unspoken.
Newcomer Andes-Pelumi stars as the teen determined to reject his grandparents, while Duke is the boy’s overwhelmed father. Jean-Baptiste is the emotionally intuitive grandmother, while Lindo is the disciplined grandfather. Pierce is a doctor in the family’s New York community.
Rounding out the cast is an ensemble of Jamaican actors, including Rolando Alberts, Sekai Smart-Macaulay, Kimberly Patterson, Jeff Crossley, Kadeem Wilson, Sule Thelwell, Everaldo Creary, and Djamari Roberts.
Jabari has been a journey of patience and passion for Lindo. The story first came his way in 2015 as an acting opportunity for an indie that ultimately didn’t work out, but when he heard the rights to the script became available in 2021, he optioned them.
“From the time I got the rights, I knew I was going to direct this,” Lindo said, adding, “It touched me in my soul as a person of Jamaican extraction.”
He hopes the movie will pay homage to Jamaica and present a side of Jamaica that audiences don’t normally see, including a spiritual one.
Lindo says he did not seek out specific advice from some of the directors he has worked closely with, such as Spike Lee or Ryan Coogler or Ron Howard, but has had conversations with them. More importantly, he spent time studying how they direct.
He describes Coogler, for example, as a chill and focused personality. “And that filters down into the various components of the set and how it is run,” he said. “That does not mean it’s not without its challenges, but he as director and leader sets the tone. And it makes for a certain, quote, smoothness. There is a clarity of objective.”
Of course, one challenge is re-orienting an actor’s brain into a director’s one, something that becomes even more difficult when you’re directing yourself.
Said Lindo, “When I’m working as an actor, I tend to work very, very privately, inside of myself, with the material. And I bring everything to the telling of the story. What that usually means is getting on set, doing the work in a scene, going back to the camper and preparing the next scene.”
But in the process of making Jabari, he learned he didn’t have the luxury of leaving the set after he was done with a scene.
“I have to the engage with the DP and various crew members of the technical aspect of a scene. And so I’ve had to open myself up and be more available. Maybe it’s elementary but it really has been an adjustment for me.”
The feature is being produced by Lindo via his production banner, Mudtop Productions, along with Robert A. Maylor, Lena Cordina and Natalie Thompson.
Susan Rockefeller, Regina K. Scully and Melony Lewis serve as executive producers. IAG is representing the distribution rights.
Duke is one of the breakouts from Marvel’s Black Panther franchise, where he portrays the fan-favorite character M’Baku, and reprises the character for the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday.
Jean-Baptiste received Academy Award, Golden Globe, and British Academy Award nominations for her performance in Mike Leigh’s Secrets & Lies. The two reunited for his 2025 feature Hard Truths, which earned Jean-Baptiste a best leading performance at the British Independent Film Awards, as well as accolades from the New York Film Critics Circle and the Los Angeles Film Critics Awards.
Pierce is known for this stage work — he received a Tony Award nomination for his portrayal of Willy Loman in the 2022 revival of Death of a Salesman — and for his work on the HBO classic series The Wire. His recent credits include appearances in Marvel’s Thunderbolts, James Gunn’s Superman and Spike Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest opposite Denzel Washington.
Andes-Pelumi is an emerging young actor best known for his roles in Prime Video series Jungle, BBC iPlayer’s Crongton and CBBC’s Lagging.
Lindo is repped by IAG, while Duke is repped by UTA and Hansen Jacobson.
Jean-Baptiste is repped by IAG and Untitled Entertainment and Pierce by Paradigm. Andes-Pelumi is repped by Bonnie & Betty in the UK and Brave Artists Management in the U.S.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
