The full programme for the season curated by Mogul Mowgli writer and director Bassam Tariq and co-writer, producer, and star of the film Riz Ahmed.

Running from the 19th October until the 30th November, the season is set to look at the pair’s cinematic influences, including films that have inspired their new feature Mogul Mowgli (released in selected cinemas by the BFI on 30th October) which receives its premiere at the London Film Festival on the 10th October.

The films that are set to feature in the programme include: First Reformed (Paul Schrader, 2017), The Three Rooms of Melancholia (Pirjo Honkasalo, 2004), A Taste of Cherry (Abbas Kiarostami, 1997) and Four Lions (Chris Morris, 2010). The season will also be made available to UK-wide audiences via a collection of films on BFI Player (from 19 October), and through special events on BFI YouTube, details of which will be announced soon.

Talking about the season, director and co-writer of Mogul Mowgli Bassam Tariq said: “These films hit Riz and I close to our jugular veins. They push us to be better, more compassionate filmmakers. These films stretch the possibilities of filmmaking and even in their supposed “vulgarity” there is a submission to Divinity that perhaps the filmmakers themselves would scoff at – but that’s the reality that I see. Whether you believe or do not, it shouldn’t matter. The best of film are like the best of the Sufis, they allow space for us all to exist: heretics, agnostics, and believers of all shapes. I pray these films can equally expand your heart and karate chop you near the jugular.”

The season is divided into two areas – the films that have inspired Bassam and Riz in the making of  Mogul Mowgli and the films that have been influential in their lives more broadly.

To find out more visit: https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/default.asp?BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::permalink=nearthejugular&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::context_id=