Jimmy Jean-Louis To Exec Produce Jose Maria Cabral’s Indie Film ‘Parsley’ From Visit Films
Internationally renowned actor JIMMY JEAN-LOUIS (Desrances, Rattlesnakes, Heroes) is coming aboard to executive produce acclaimed director José María Cabral upcoming historic indie drama feature, PARSLEY (PEREJIL). The film is set during the little known Parsley Massacre, when Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo ordered the execution of Haitian families and Dominicans of Haitian descent in the Dominican Republic’s Northwestern frontier in 1937. Visit Films will be handling worldwide rights.
Cabral is considered one of the top filmmakers from Latin America and one of the first Dominican filmmakers to have his film in competition at the Sundance Film Festival (Woodpeckers/Carpinteros). His feature debut, Jaque Mate, was selected as the Dominican entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards.
Based on true events, PARSLEY is set near the border of the Dominican Republic and Haiti and tells the story of a young Haitian woman named Marie, who is expecting her first child with her doting Dominican husband, Frank. After her mother's burial, she is awakened in the middle of the night by distant screams. The immediate execution of all Haitians on Dominican soil has been ordered — the so-called “Cutting” — and what seals a victim’s fate is whether or not they can pronounce "perejil" (“parsley”). Marie takes off to find Frank in the next town over, with nothing but the clothes on her back. Alone in the mountains 9 months pregnant and with nowhere to hide, she must make her way through the dense hinterland before the Parsley Massacre catches up with her.
PARSLEY was shot in the Dominican Republic and stars Cyndie Lundi, Ramón Emilio Candelario, Gerardo Mercedes, and Juan María Almonte. The film is Produced by Rafael Elías Muñoz via the Lantica Media label. Visit Films is selling the film worldwide and will embark on a fall festivals campaign for the project. PARSLEY is Director José María Cabral’s 9th feature film. He is currently in post-production on his next film Hotel Coppelia for Lantica Media.
JIMMY JEAN-LOUIS is coming off a big Best Actor win at this year’s Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA), the African continent’s equivalent to the Oscars, for his role in the independent film Desrances. He also serves as a Producer on the film, which earned a total of 10 nominations at the AMAA’s.
“Parsley is a story about human tragedy where race takes the center stage and represents a part of history that needs to be told,” said Jimmy Jean-Louis. “I am thrilled to collaborate with Jose Maria, a very talented filmmaker.”
Jose Maria Cabral commented: “Making this film was really special. It's a very dark chapter in the history of the island that we don't want to face. Not only is this a story about Dominican and Haitian history, but it's also relevant to audiences worldwide. It was devastating for me and the actors to portray such horrific events, but we understood the importance of making this film as a movie that puts faces to the people who suffered from this massacre, rather than numbers.”
Jean-Louis is on the fast-track, breaking the mold internationally as both an Actor and Producer. He can currently be seen in Kunle Afolayan's Netflix Original film CITATION, which ranked as the number 1 film in Nigeria and top 6 globally on the streamer. He will next appear in a starring role for the upcoming indie feature film RISE. He serves as a producer on both projects through his Jet Media Productions label, which is currently developing new projects for film and television. Jean-Louis is known for his series regular role on TNT's hit series CLAWS and his starring role in the NBC hit series HEROES. Jean-Louis also starred in the popular hit CW series ARROW, CBS’ EXTANT produced by Steven Spielberg, and JOY directed by David O. Russell. His starring role in TOUSSAINT L'OUVERTURE won the Best Actor Award at the Pan African Film Festival. Ambassador At Large to Haiti, Jean-Louis is also known for directing the award-winning documentary JIMMY GOES TO NOLLYWOOD, which was acquired by Netflix in 2015, RATTLESNAKES, which won the Pan African Film Festival Audience Award in 2019, amongst a slew of other projects. He is fluent is French, Spanish, Creole, English and Italian. Jimmy Jean-Louis is repped by Alta Global Media.