From a Yardie to a Yankee, an independent film about a Jamaican who migrated to the United States for a better life, is set to begin filming in sections of Kingston and St Catherine over the next few weeks.

According to reliable sources, the production will feature respected broadcaster and actress Fae Ellington, veteran actress Dorothy Cunningham and Sherando Ferrill.

Additionally, two students from the Edna Manley College for the Visual and Performing Arts have secured their first acting roles in the film.

Efforts to contact the producer and director for a comment have proven futile. However, Observer Online has learnt that nearly the entire cast and crew are Jamaicans.

The film is a coming-of-age immigrant drama about a fiercely determined Jamaican mother who leaves her rural homeland in search of opportunity in America, only to discover that survival in her new country demands a different kind of strength. Years later, her children join her expecting reunion and belonging — but instead confront poverty, cultural displacement and the emotional distance created by sacrifice. As they struggle to find identity between two worlds, the children slowly come to understand the cost of their mother’s choices and the love hidden beneath her hardness.

Spanning Jamaica and the United States, the film explores migration, resilience, and what it truly means to build a home.