*Oscar-nominated actor Delroy Lindo has wrapped production on “Jabari’s People,” his feature directing debut and a deeply personal Jamaican family drama that he has been trying to bring to the screen for years.
The film recently completed a 22-day shoot in Kingston, Jamaica, according to The Hollywood Reporter, with Lindo directing and starring alongside Winston Duke, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Wendell Pierce and rising actor Seyi Andes-Pelumi.
From Brooklyn to Jamaica’s Blue Mountains
Written by Daoud Abeid and Dakhil Hausif, “Jabari’s People” follows Jabari, a gifted but defiant Brooklyn teenager sent to live with his estranged grandparents in Jamaica’s Blue Mountains after the sudden death of his mother.
Andes-Pelumi plays Jabari, while Duke portrays his overwhelmed father. Jean-Baptiste plays the teenager’s emotionally intuitive grandmother, Lindo his disciplined grandfather and Pierce a doctor connected to the family’s New York community.
The story follows three generations confronting grief, identity, inheritance and family wounds that have gone unspoken. For Lindo, however, the project reaches beyond the screenplay.
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A Story That ‘Touched Me in My Soul’
Lindo first encountered “Jabari’s People” in 2015, when it came to him as a potential acting project. That version never materialized. When the screenplay rights became available in 2021, he optioned them with a different plan.
“From the time I got the rights, I knew I was going to direct this,” Lindo told THR, explaining that the story “touched me in my soul as a person of Jamaican extraction.”
Lindo was born in London to Jamaican parents. He has described the film as an opportunity to give something back to Jamaica while presenting dimensions of the country that international audiences may not ordinarily see on screen, including its spiritual life.
The Jamaican connection extends to the cast. Local performers include Rolando Alberts, Sekai Smart-Macaulay, Kimberly Patterson, Jeff Crossley, Kadeem Wilson, Sule Thelwell, Everaldo Creary and Djamari Roberts. Lindo has also praised the younger Jamaican actors involved in the production.
Lindo Studied Ryan Coogler From Up Close
After decades in front of the camera, Lindo said directing required him to change his working habits.
Rather than formally seeking advice from filmmakers he has worked with, including Spike Lee, Ron Howard and “Sinners” director Ryan Coogler, Lindo studied how they ran their sets. He singled out Coogler’s calm, focused leadership and the clarity it creates throughout a production.
“When I’m working as an actor, I tend to work very, very privately, inside of myself, with the material,” Lindo explained. Directing meant remaining engaged with the cinematographer and crew instead of retreating after a scene to prepare for the next one.
“I’ve had to open myself up and be more available,” he said. “Maybe it’s elementary, but it really has been an adjustment for me.”
The adjustment appears to have brought its share of rewards. Lindo described having “pinch-me moments” watching actors transform words he had lived with for years into finished performances.
No release date has been announced, leaving Lindo’s decade-long journey with “Jabari’s People” at a new milestone: the project that first reached him as an acting opportunity is now his completed feature directing debut and a cinematic connection to his Jamaican roots.
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