‘Duppy’ From Director Ajuán Isaac-George, Bound for Cannes Frontières

London-based writer-director Ajuán Isaac-George is headed to the Croisette along with his movie project “Duppy,” which will probably be a part of the Proof of Concept part of the Frontières Platform, Cannes’ greatest style showcase. 

The movie is a co-production between the U.Okay. and Jamaica and takes place in Jamaica in 1998, the most violent yr in the island’s historical past.  It tells the story of 12-year-old Rainbow, who’s left in the care of her grandparents in the Jamaican countryside.  Feeling lonely and deserted, she summons a hostile spirit in an effort to get again at her strict spiritual grandmother, unknowingly forming an unbreakable pact with a shapeshifting demon.

“‘Duppy’ is a culturally particular horror that transforms Jamaican folklore right into a common story about grief, loneliness, and the damaging energy of childhood emotion. Despite Jamaica’s profound worldwide cultural affect, its folklore isn’t explored by way of a cinematic horror lens. It’s a cinematic, visceral, character-driven horror the place a baby’s want for management unleashes one thing far more terrifying,’’ Isaac-George told Variety.

“I don’t think we’ve ever had a Jamaican project that explores its folklore, myths and legends that we know about,” added Annick Mahnert, Frontières Platform government director.

The movie will probably be Isaac-George’s first feature-length project.  His quick movie, “Snowfalls in the Summer,” premiered at the 2023 BFI London Film Festival and performed at the Oscar-qualifying Hollyshorts. His quick documentary, “Seventeen,” adopted a gaggle of curler skaters over the final summer season of their adolescence and premiered at the 2025 BFI London Film Festival.

“Duppy” was introduced to an business viewers at Film London’s Production Finance Market in 2025, which showcases initiatives from rising filmmakers. It is produced by My Accomplice, with U.Okay. producers Aleksandra Bilić and Dorottya Székely, and Jamie Clark executive-producing, in co-production with Mental Telepathy, Jamaica’s Robert A. Maylor co-producing.

Organized by the Fantasia International Film Festival, in partnership with the Marché du Film, the Frontières is the world’s main worldwide style co-production market and networking platform between Europe and North America.  The Frontières Platform takes place at the Palais des Festivals over May 16-17.

John Hopewell contributed to this article.