Jamaica-Set Horror Drama ‘Duppy,’ From ‘Seventeen’ Director Ajuán Isaac-George, Set for Cannes Frontières Platform (EXCLUSIVE)
Why it matters: The Frontières Platform, organized by Fantasia International Film Festival and Marché du Film, showcases "Duppy" to industry audiences over May 16-17.
- Ajuán Isaac-George's horror drama "Duppy" will be featured in the Proof of Concept section of the Frontières Platform at Cannes, marking his first feature-length project.
- "Duppy" is a U.K.-Jamaica co-production set in 1998, focusing on 12-year-old Rainbow who summons a hostile spirit, unknowingly forming an unbreakable pact with a shapeshifting demon.
- Isaac-George describes "Duppy" as a culturally specific horror that transforms Jamaican folklore into a universal story about grief, loneliness, and the destructive power of childhood emotion, a sentiment echoed by Annick Mahnert who notes the rarity of Jamaican projects exploring its folklore through a horror lens.
- The film was previously presented at Film London’s Production Finance Market in 2025 and is produced by My Accomplice with U.K. producers Aleksandra Bilić and Dorottya Székely, and Jamaica’s Mental Telepathy co-producing.
Director Ajuán Isaac-George's Jamaica-set horror drama, "Duppy," is heading to the Cannes Frontières Platform, offering a unique cinematic exploration of Jamaican folklore through a universal story of grief and childhood emotion. The film, a U.K.-Jamaica co-production, is set in 1998 and follows a 12-year-old who unleashes a shapeshifting demon, a narrative praised by Isaac-George and Frontières executive director Annick Mahnert for its cultural specificity and groundbreaking genre approach.
