Dr Alithea Binnie (Tilda Swinton) is an academic – content with life and a creature of reason. While in Istanbul attending a conference, she happens to encounter a Djinn (Idris Elba) who offers her three wishes in exchange for his freedom.
This presents two problems. First, she doubts that he is real and second, because she is a scholar of story and mythology, she knows all the cautionary tales of wishes gone wrong. The Djinn pleads his case by telling her fantastical stories of his past. Eventually she is beguiled and makes a wish that surprises them both.
Directed by: George Miller
Produced by: Doug Mitchell, George Miller
Written by: George Miller & Augusta Gore
Based upon: The short story “The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye” by A.S. Byatt
Executive Producers: Dean Hood, Craig McMahon, Kevin Sun
Music by: Tom Holkenborg