Derek Jarman
Derek Jarman (January 31 1942-1994), British film director, artist and writer.Jarman's films included Jubilee (1977), in which Queen Elizabeth I of England is transported forward in time to a desolate and brutal wasteland ruled by her twentieth century namesake. Jubilee was arguably the first UK punk movie, and amongst its cast featured punk groups and figures such as Wayne County, Jordan and Adam and the Ants.
Jarman was a forthright and prominent gay activist.
The film Blue was his last testament as a film-maker. At the time when he made the film, he was blind and dying of AIDS. Blue consists of a single shot of saturated blue colour filling the screen, as background to a soundtrack where Jarman describes his life and vision.
Not to be forgotten, Jarmans "The Last of England" tolled the death of a country, ravaged by Thatcher's conservatism. "Wrenchingly beautiful…the film is one of the few commanding works of personal cinema in the late 80's--a call to open our eyes to a world violated by greed and repression, to see what irrevocable damage has been wrought on city, countryside and soul, how our skies, our bodies, have turned poisonous," The Village Voice
Filmography
- Sebastiane
- Jubilee
- The Tempest
- Caravaggio
- The Last of England
- War Requiem
- The Garden
- Edward II
- Wittgenstein
- Blue (1993 movie)
- Sex Pistols Number One (1976) (features early live footage of the band)
- Smiths promo video around 1986 - The Queen is Dead, Panic, There is a Light That Never Goes Out, Ask
