Jamil Dehlavi is the son of a Pakistani diplomat and a non-practicing French Christian, and his films bear the polyglot influences of his upbringing: As a child, he travelled extensively between Asia and Europe, becoming exposed to a range of cultures, traditions and intellectual ideas. After studying law, he was called to the bar in England, but chose instead to study filmmaking in America. While there, he developed a highly symbolic style that infused the personal, the political and the mystical. Informed by world cinema, Zoroastrian tradition, Islamic mysticism and Pakistani politics, Dehlavi’s work is a heady mix of influences that may seem alienating to western viewers, but in fact much of his output has been funded and/or produced in the United Kingdom.