EXCLUSIVE: Oscar-nominated Sinners star Delroy Lindo is eying a late summer start on his feature directing debut Jabari’s People as his producer Rob Maylor takes meetings in Cannes with potential financiers and distributors.
UK-born Lindo will also star in the film about a troubled teenager from New York wrestling with the loss of his mother who goes to live with his grandfather in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica.
Backed in part by private investors Sue Rockefeller, Regina K. Scully, and Melony Lewis and Adam Lewis, Jabari’s People will film in Jamaica and apply for support from the new Jamaica Screen Development Initiative.
“This can only be made in Jamaica because it’s a Jamaican story,” said Lindo, whose family hails from the port town of Ocho Rios.
“I have navigated for many years the question of how I can give back to Jamaica and this checks the box for me as a person of Jamaican heritage. That component has become much more important in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa [the deadly storm in late 2025].”
Lindo, whose acting credits include Da 5 Bloods, Malcolm X and Clockers, initially tried to shoot Jabari’s People in 2021 after he acquired the screenplay from Daoud Abeid and Dahkil Hausif. When funding fell through he revived the project with Maylor of Cinecom Productions, who used to serve as director of international sales at Magnolia Pictures.
Maylor has set up a second company, Gwaan Ramp, through which he is producing Jabari’s People.
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