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Derek in March

4 March 2009

Painter, author, gay militant, aids activist and, above all, filmmaker, Derek Jarman was one of Britain's best-loved and most original artists who touched the lives of everyone he met. The documentary portrait Derek, written and narrated by his close friend and muse Tilda Swinton, is a fitting remembrance of one of independent film's greatest treasures.

Derek was lovingly crafted by artist filmmaker Isaac Julien, who assembled a moving collage of rare home movies, film clips and interviews, as well as a cinematic love letter from Tilda Swinton written a decade after Jarman's death. The film tells the story of Jarman's life and chronicles everyday England from the 1960s to the early 1990s. It also includes clips of Jarman's feature-length and Super-8 films. Swinton's letter serves as the poetic overlay, telling the truth about the life Jarman led and the cultural abyss left by his absence.

Derek DVD cover

Derek has won the following international awards: Grand Jury Prize, Documentary Competition, Seattle International Film Festival; Best Documentary, Milan International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival and Special Teddy, Berlin International Film Festival. The film will be released on UK DVD by the BFI on 30th March 2009 at the RRP of £19.99. Presented in its original 1.78:1 aspect ratio with optional subtitles for the hard of hearing, the disc will have the following special features:

  • Filmed introduction by Producer Colin MacCabe (2008, 5 mins);
  • The Extended Derek Jarman interview (1991, 69 mins);
  • New filmed interview with Isaac Julien (2008, 20 mins);
  • Three Super-8mm short films by Derek Jarman: Pirate Tape (W.S. Burroughs Film, 1982, 16 mins), TG: Psychic Rally in Heaven (1981, 8 mins), Sloane Square: A Room of One's Own (1974-6, 9 mins);
  • The Attendant (Isaac Julien, 1993, 8 mins);
  • The Clearing (Alexis Bistikas, 1994, 7 mins);
  • Ostia (Julian Cole, 1987, 26 mins): short film about Pasolini starring Jarman, with optional director's commentary;
  • Derek Jarman paintings gallery;
  • Illustrated booklet with essays by Isaac Julien and B. Ruby Rich; Ossian Ward on Jarman's paintings; film notes and biographies.