Jamil Dehlavi

Jamil Dehlavi is an independent filmmaker of Pakistani and French origin who read law at Oxford University and was called to the Bar at Lincoln’s Inn London before studying film directing at Columbia University in New York where he received a Master of Fine Arts. The son of a diplomat who travelled extensively between Asia and Europe, Jamil 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.

While studying film directing at Columbia he also 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 student thesis film THE GUITARIST won a Gold Medal at the Atlanta Film Festival and a Silver Medal at the Cannes Festival du Film Amateur.  His next film THE BLOOD OF HUSSAIN was selected by the Director’s Fortnight at Cannes and won the Grand Prize at the Taormina Film Festival. He has produced and directed many international award-winning feature films including BORN OF FIRE, IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, PASSOVER, JINNAH, INFINITE JUSTICE, GODFORSAKEN and SEVEN LUCKY GODS. His films have been distributed all over the world and screened at renowned film festivals such as Cannes, Toronto, Berlin, London and New York. Retrospectives of his films have been held at Bite the Mango Film Festival in 2007 and by the British Film Institute in 2018.

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 Cordoba and 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. Read more at https://www.dehlavifilms.com/about