The Derek Jarman Collection

Derek Jarman's (Caravaggio) feature film debut (co-directing with Paul Humfress), SEBASTIANE is a "one of a kind" (Time Out London) historical drama which lays bare the latent homoeroticism that has always lurked beneath the glossy surface of Hollywood biblical epics. Telling the story of the martyrdom of St. Sebastian in the same way that Italian Renaissance painters used the image of Sebastian to eroticize the male nude, Jarman depicts both earthly lust and spiritual yearning with "an honesty and directness that's the absolute opposite of camp." (The Guardian).

Stripped of rank and exiled to a remote Sardinian outpost, Roman soldier and suspected Christian Sebastian becomes the object of his commanding officer aggressive desire. As Sebastian turns his back on his fellow soldiers in favor of his own mystical longings, the sun-bleached Mediterranean idyll becomes a psycho-sexual hothouse where lust sets the stage for a shocking tableau of death and martyrdom.

Audaciously spoken in Latin and supported by one of cult composer Brian Eno's best music scores, SEBASTIANE is both a milestone of British independent film and a pioneering work of queer cinema. Hide this content.

Shot on location at the ancient and ghostly Stoneleigh Abbey, THE TEMPEST is Derek Jarman's (War Requiem) acclaimed 1979 film adaptation of William Shakespeare's final great play.

It is the story of Prospero the magician, who lives on an island with his nubile daughter on an enchanted island and punishes his enemies when they are shipwrecked there. Essentially a study of sexual and political power in the guise of a fairy tale, in Jarman's hands, THE TEMPEST becomes an original and dazzling spectacle mixing Hollywood pastiche, high camp, and gothic horror. The film recalls the innocent homoeroticism of Pasolini's versions of classics, while its lush sense of decor and color is worthy of Minnelli.

The master stroke in THE TEMPEST is the finale, a wedding feast designed and choreographed as a full-scale production number, with the veteran black musical comedy star Elisabeth Welch wafting her way through a chorus line of hunky sailors as she belts out "Stormy Weather." It is one of the great scenes in contemporary British cinema. Hide this content.

"A stunning visual and serious music treat" (Variety), Derek Jarman's (Sebastiane, Jubilee) 1989 WAR REQUIEM reunites British cinema's enfant terrible with his muse Tilda Swinton (2008 Oscar® Winner for Michael Clayton) for a spectacular and moving interpretation of composer Benjamin Britten's groundbreaking 1961 orchestral masterpiece. Just as Britten combined the sacred Latin Requiem Mass with the searing unromantic war poetry of British infantry lieutenant Wilfred Owen, who was tragically killed in the final week of WWI, Jarman interprets Britten's six movements in eye-popping and heartbreaking dialogue-free tableaus illustrating war's infinite futility, sacrifice, and waste.

WAR REQUIEM boldly combines archival footage of war's devastation with Jarman's keen and gifted eye for both the theatrical and the political as Owen, played by Nathaniel Parker, doggedly struggles to survive on the field of battle in defense of a cause rendered unjust by the human toll it takes in the trenches and on the home front. Featuring Sean Bean (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, National Treasure) as Owen's star-crossed German counterpart, and Sir Laurence Olivier in his final screen appearance, WAR REQUIEM is a "violent, horrifying, ultimately inspiring film" that remains Derek Jarman's definitive, "eloquent, complex, and profoundly negative statement on war" (Washington Post).

Written and NARRATED BY ACADEMY AWARD WINNER
TILDA SWINTON

A FILM BY ISAAC JULIEN
PRODUCED BY COLIN MacCABE & ELIZA MELLOR

Includes Clips From 17 Derek Jarman Films

Academy Award winner Tilda Swinton personally conducts an intimate
cinematic commemoration of the life, times, and work of UK filmmaker,
artist, and renegade Derek Jarman in Derek.

Isaac Julien's (Young Soul Rebels, Looking for Langston) documentary
blends together vintage clips from Jarman's groundbreaking experimental
theatrical works and 8mm films, never-before-seen footage from the sets of
his Queer Cinema milestone Sebastiane and punk film landmark Jubilee, and
revealing interview footage shot shortly before Jarman's death in 1994. In
his own words and the words of those who knew him best, Derek reveals
Jarman's religion-scarred beginnings and his ascent in the vibrant UK
counterculture of the 60s and the London punk scene of the 70s. Also
covered, his eight film collaboration with muse, companion and collaborator
Tilda Swinton, the influential music videos made with The Smiths and The Pet
Shop Boys, and Jarman's contributions to a British art scene he helped to
redefine.

Both a "heartbreaking and giddily alive biopic" and an "accomplished
homage" (Art Forum), Isaac Julien's Derek is a joyful requiem celebrating
Derek Jarman's life, vision and legacy with the same maverick energy and
affectionate creativity that made its subject one of the most important
artistic mirrors of his time.

A NORMAL FILMS Production
DEREK
Written by TILDA SWINTON Narrated by TILDA SWINTON
Composer SIMON FISHER-TURNER Film Editor ADAM FINCH
Director of Photography NINA KELLGREN
Executive Producers ISAAC JULIEN,
TILDA SWINTON & JAMES MACKAY
Produced by COLIN MacCABE & ELIZA MELLOR
Directed by ISAAC JULIEN

With support from CHANNEL 4, FILM LONDON, THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART'S FUND
FOR THE 21ST CENTURY, & SUNDANCE INSTITUTE DOCUMENTARY FUND
The Artist Wishes to Thank DEREK JARMAN ESTATE /
KEITH COLLINS, JAN YOUNGHUSBAND, VERTIGO
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Cover photograph "Derek Jarman Charing Cross Rd London 1985," courtesy Steve
Pyke.
Additional thanks to Niall&Nigel at Pony, London.