Jamil Dehlavi

Background

Son of a diplomat who travelled extensively between Asia and Europe, he is fluent in five languages. He studied at Karachi Grammar School, then at international schools in Paris and Rome before going to Rugby School and Oxford University. He graduated with a BA in Politics and French Literature and an MA (Hons) in Jurisprudence. He was subsequently called to the Bar at Lincoln’s Inn but never practised, preferring instead to go into the world of cinema. Dehlavi studied film directing at Columbia University in New York, where he was awarded an MFA degree.

Career

While studying there Dehlavi trained as an actor with Stella Adler and made his first feature film Towers of Silence which he wrote, produced and directed. It won the Grand Prize at the Festival of the Americas. His next film, The Blood of Hussain was selected by the Director's Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival and won the Grand Prize at the Taormina Film Festival. All his subsequent films have also won major awards at film festivals all over the world.

Dehlavi has worked on various projects for the BBC, Channel Four, and French television, including Qâf – The Sacred Mountain, which won awards at five environmental film festivals, and Passover, a passion play shot in Córdoba made in collaboration with the celebrated flamenco guitarist Paco Peña. He has also worked in the Radio & Visual Services Division at the United Nations and as an Associate Professor in the School of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences at Habib University in Karachi.

Selected credits