Beyond Pakistan : The Mystical Cinema of Jamil Dehlavi

In the presence of Jamil Dehlavi

A visual storyteller guided by his intuitions, Jamil Dehlavi has been eluding all attempts at classification for over 40 years. Born to a French mother, he grew up in Europe, following the relocations of his father, a Pakistani diplomat. He then studied law in England, cinema in New York, and returned to Pakistan to make his first films... before being temporarily thrown out of the country! His films are, of course, like him, shifting yet stable, never totally fitting into a single genre, culture or dogma, but open to a horizon of possibilities. The films in this program were mainly shot in Pakistan, Turkey and on Réunion Island. They share a desire to go beyond surface appearance, a common visual force that propels their stories beyond politics or religion, reaching a redeeming spiritual depth. More than a retrospective, this cinerama is an invitation to discover a striking universe where the mystical and the rational mingle, where traditions have survived modernity, and where the sacred is never far from the profane.

The films:
> The Blood of Hussain - Jamil Dehlavi, 1980, Pakistan / UK, 106'
> Born of Fire - Jamil Dehlavi, 1987, UK, 83'
> Immaculate Conception - Jamil Dehlavi, 1992, UK, 122'
> QÂF The Sacred Mountain - Jamil Dehlavi, 1985, UK / France, 27'
> Towers of Silence - Jamil Dehlavi, 1975, Pakistan, 51'