The Blood of Hussain - Towers of Silence (1975 - 1980) (Blu-ray + 2 DVD)

The Blood of Hussain (3-disc DVD + Blu-ray set)

Directed by Jamil Dehlavi

Political, subversive and artistically maverick, Pakistan's leading filmmaker Jamil Dehlavi's remarkable body of work stands out for its originality and engagement with social and political questions. He is an artist whose vision captures the diversity and power of both the religious and the secular in everyday life

In The Blood of Hussain (1980), the annual mourning procession for the murdered Hussain, grandson of the prophet Muhammad, is the setting for an allegorical tale of revolutionary struggle against injustice and oppression. Banned by successive military regimes in Pakistan, the film has achieved legendary status in its country of origin.

This release includes Dehlavi's landmark 1975 Towers of Silence, which weaves scenes of Zoroastrian funerary rituals in which bodies are consumed by vultures with glimpses of armed insurrection, juxtaposing traumatic landscapes of sex, death and faith.

Special features

Brand new masters of both films presented in High Definition and Standard Definition

Between the Sacred and the Profane (2018, 66 mins): Dr Ali Nobil Ahmad explores the cultural, artistic, and political background of Jamil Dehlavi's films

Jamil Dehlavi in Conversation (2018, 76 mins): an on-stage conversation between the director and curator Timothy Cooper.

Illustrated booklet with a new essay by Raficq Abdulla, writing by M J Fischer and full film credits