English filmmaker Aleem Khan was BOTD in 1985. Born in Chatham, Kent to a Pakistani Muslim father and a white English mother, he became interested in filmmaking via his father, who chronicled their family life on a home camcorder. He studied filmmaking at the University of Westminster, where he struggled to reconcile his homosexuality with being Muslim. In 2015, he received a BAFTA nomination for his short film Three Brothers, a story about a teenage boy caring for his young siblings after their father abandons them and returns to Pakistan to remarry. He rose to public attention with his 2020 feature debut After Love, a drama about a recently-widowed white Englishwoman and Muslim convert who discovers after her Pakistani husband had a secret second family. In press interviews, Khan explained that he based the story on his mother, who converted to Islam after her marriage. A critical and commercial success, the film was selected for the 2020 Cannes Festival Critics’ Week, and dominated the 2021 British Independent Film Awards, winning best film, best director and debut director and best screenplay for Cannes. The film received three BAFTA nominations, including Outstanding British Debut and Outstanding British Film for Khan, winning the Best Actress prize for lead actress Joanna Scanlan. Khan lives in London with his husband Sam.