BORN OF FIRE (1987)—The 1st Known U.S. Screening of a Hallucinatory Odyssey

7th House is proud to present the first known U.S. theatrical screening in nearly four decades of Jamil Dehlavi’s BORN OF FIRE (1987), a hallucinatory and unusual metaphysical odyssey steeped in Islamic mysticism and the mythology of the jinn. Marketed upon its original release as a horror film, Born of Fire is something considerably stranger and far more difficult to categorize: a collision of supernatural fantasy, mystical quest, avant-garde art film and spiritual allegory, rendered in a succession of surreal, often startling images that at times recall the visionary cinema of Alejandro Jodorowsky.

A Pakistani filmmaker working between cultures, a British cast, the otherworldly landscapes of Turkey, a demonic Master Musician who shoots fire from his eyes, mystical flute battles, subterranean caverns, visions, rituals and transformations—Dehlavi stirs it all into a feverish, visually astonishing work that veers freely between the eerie, the beautiful, the profound and the wonderfully bizarre. Imagine supernatural folk horror colliding with the mystical, surrealist audacity of Jodorowsky and you’re somewhere in the vicinity, though BORN OF FIRE ultimately resembles very little besides itself.

Peter Firth (Equus, Tess) stars as Paul Bergson, a classical flautist plagued by visions and mysterious music following the death of his father. His search for answers takes him and his lover (Suzan Crowley) to the remote landscape of Cappadocia in pursuit of the elusive Master Musician, an enigmatic figure connected to his father’s death. There Paul enters an increasingly uncanny world where music carries supernatural power and the boundaries between human and jinn, earthly and otherworldly, begin to dissolve.

Made while Dehlavi was living in exile in England after his previous film, THE BLOOD OF HUSSAIN (1980), was banned in Pakistan following General Zia-ul-Haq’s military coup, Born of Fire draws deeply from Islamic mysticism, transforming its spectacular Turkish locations into an alien spiritual terrain of rock formations, caves, thermal pools and underground spaces. Accompanied by Colin Towns’ haunting score, the film increasingly abandons anything resembling conventional genre logic for the logic of ritual, myth and nightmare.

Long difficult to see before re-emerging through a high-definition remaster, BORN OF FIRE is wildly imaginative, deeply idiosyncratic and filled with strange, striking images that linger long after the film is over. Nearly four decades after its original release, we’re thrilled to share this singular vision on the big screen.

Dir. Jamil Dehlavi, 1987, 84 mins, United Kingdom, English, Rated R, Digital.

Tickets: $12 (All Screenings Are In Person Only)

Please email events@prs.org or phone 323-663-2167 with any questions.