Sinners' Delroy Lindo has directed his first film, with M'Baku and Superman's Perry White in the cast
Jabari's People follows a Brooklyn teenager sent to the Blue Mountains of Jamaica after his mother dies. Lindo bought the rights in 2021 and shot it in 22 days.
Bit of a career pivot for Delroy Lindo: the man best known for stealing the show in everything from Spike Lee joints to Sinners is now properly having a go in the director’s chair. For his debut film, he’s not only running the show behind the camera, but also starring, and he’s roped in some top talent who’ll be very familiar to anyone who’s watched either a Marvel epic or the latest DC flick.
From Brooklyn to the Blue Mountains
The film’s called Jabari's People, and it’s built around a family coping with loss and new beginnings. The story follows a Brooklyn teenager named Jabari who’s uprooted to the Blue Mountains of Jamaica after the sudden death of his mother. Not exactly your standard “heat-of-the-city” fish-out-of-water set-up—here, it’s about roots, grief, and all the awkward bits that go with being dropped in with distant relatives and unfamiliar traditions.
Jabari is played by Seyi Andes-Pelumi. Giving him more to wrestle with, Winston Duke (the MCU’s M'Baku, no less) turns up as his father, and Marianne Jean-Baptiste takes on the grandmother role. Delroy Lindo is pulling double duty, taking the role of Jabari’s grandfather, while Wendell Pierce shows up as a doctor whose New York connections to the family add extra texture.
Jabari's People completed its 22-day shoot in Kingston, Jamaica.
The film doesn’t linger in the script stage anymore either—they’ve already wrapped a pretty rapid-fire 22-day shoot in Jamaica's capital.
Lindo’s Long Road to Directing
Now, here’s a twist: Lindo first clocked this project back in 2015 when he was approached to star in it. But something about it obviously stuck, because he later bought the rights outright in 2021, at which point he decided to helm the entire thing himself. His own background—being of Jamaican descent—clearly drives a personal connection to this story of family and homeland.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Lindo described exactly why making the film meant so much to him:
‘From the time I got the rights, I knew I was going to direct this.’
He went on to admit that seeing the assembled cast step into these roles has been almost surreal for him:
‘I’ve had a pinch me moments. They're bringing the actual words to life. I'm pinching myself and saying, “Oh, it’s really happening.”’
Lindo’s Back Catalogue
If you’re thinking “Sinners was the first I’d heard of this bloke in a lead role,” you’re not alone—but Lindo’s actually got a mountain of credits going back several decades. Early on, you’d catch him in just about every major Spike Lee film going: Malcolm X, Crooklyn, Clockers. From there he popped up in the Oscar-awarded The Cider House Rules, Gone in 60 Seconds, Da 5 Bloods, and The Harder They Fall. And that’s just film—he’s put in serious TV work too, playing Adrian Boseman in The Good Fight, headlining Unprisoned, and appearing in The Chicago Code and Blood & Oil. Sinners only just wrapped before he dived into Jabari’s People, so he’s certainly not slowing down on either side of the lens.