Jamil Dehlavi

Born in Calcutta (India)
Lives and works between Karachi (Pakistan) and London (UK)

Jamil Dehlavi is an independent filmmaker who read law at Oxford University and was called to the Bar at Lincoln’s Inn in London. He then studied film directing at Columbia University in New York where he received a Master of Fine Arts. He has written, produced and directed many international award-winning feature films and documentaries including TOWERS OF SILENCE, THE BLOOD OF HUSSAIN, BORN OF FIRE, IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, PASSOVER, PASSION IN THE DESERT, JINNAH, INFINITE JUSTICE, GODFORSAKEN, SEVEN LUCKY GODS and BLOOD MONEY. His practise as a visual artist examines the relationship between the static and moving image while also investigating the intersection of sculpture and digital art.He has exhibited his work at UNESCO in Paris and at Amin Gulgee Gallery and KOEL Gallery, both in Karachi.For the last four years he also worked as an Associate Professor at the School of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at Habib University, Karachi where he taught film production.

Jamil Dehlavi writes of Ghosts, which he made for KB17: “My work for the Biennale is a series of images extracted from 8mm film which my father shot in the 50s. The footage deteriorated over the years and I managed to salvage some frames which capture a sense of memory through fading and disintegrating images. These works are suggestive of the presence of absence and the fragility of life, evoking memories which are both personal and collective.”