Derek Jarman

144 p. : 24 cm

One of the most controversial filmmakers of our time (Caravaggio, The Last of England, Edward II), and outspoken crusader for gay civil rights in Britain, Derek Jarman was diagnosed HIV positive in December of 1986. At Your Own risk is Derek's distillation of his philosophy of life and an impassioned and witty guide to gay sexuality from the repressed 40s through the libidinous 60s to the AIDS-chilled present. Derek confronts his death, describing the reality of being HIV positive. Of a walk home after a sexual encounter on Hampstead Heath, he writes: "Why are you doing this, Derek? You shouldn't be standing under these cold stars. You shouldn't have the stamina to do this.' The answer is that I didn't have the stamina, but throwing my arms around a stranger is an act of defiance that keeps me alive." At Your Own Risk is an act of defiance - a defiant statement against a society that vacillates between indifference and moral censure on the issue of Aids and a defiant celebration of gay sexuality. At Your Own Risk argues that if you are HIV positive you can only remain frightened for so long and that there comes a point at which fear gives way to acceptance - a point after which you have to start living again.

A film with no spoken dialogue, just follows the music and lyrics of Benjamin Britten's "War Requiem", which include WWI soldier poet Wilfred Owen's poems reflecting the war's horrors.

Derek Jarman worked for more than seven years to complete is feature film based on the life and work of Italian post-Renaissance painter, Caravaggio. This book interprets the film with photographs taken throughout the filming.

Derek Jarman’s stunning account of his life and art. From his sexual awakening in postwar England to life in the sixties and beyond, Derek Jarman tells his life story with the in-your-face immediacy that became his trademark style in his films and writing. Accompanied by photographs of Jarman, his friends, lovers, and inspirations, the candid accounts in Dancing Ledge provide intimate and vivid glimpses into his life and times. From his sexual awakening in postwar England to life in the sixties and beyond, Derek Jarman tells his life story with the in-your-face immediacy that became his trademark style in both his films and writing. Accompanied by many photographs of Jarman, his friends, lovers, and inspirations, the candid accounts in Dancing Ledge provide intimate and incredibly vivid glimpses into this iconoclastic filmmaker’s life and times. One of England’s foremost filmmakers, Derek Jarman (1942–1994) wrote and directed many feature films, including Sebastiane, Jubilee, Caravaggio, and Blue, as well as numerous short films and music videos. He was a stage designer, artist, writer, gardener, and an outspoken AIDS and queer rights activist in the UK and the United States. His books include At Your Own Risk, Chroma, Modern Nature, and Smiling in Slow Motion, all available from the University of Minnesota Press. The clarity with which Derek Jarman offered up his life and the living of it, particularly since the epiphany—I can call it nothing less—of his illness was a genius stroke, not only of provocation, but of grace. — Tilda Swinton

A novel based on the life of the author's great-grandmother follows the story of Vyry, the child of a white plantation owner and one of his slaves, through the years of the Civil War and Reconstruction.

Director Derek Jarman's controversial adaptation of Christopher Marlowe's play portrays the weak-willed monarch as neglecting his kingdom for his commoner male lover.

Written between May 1991 and February 1994, and ending just two weeks before his death from an AIDS-related illness, Derek Jarmans entries in Smiling in Slow Motion pick up where Modern Nature left off. Friends and enemies are reviewed as he races through his last years painting, filmmaking, gardening, and annoying his targets through his involvement in radical politics. Infused throughout with familiar honesty and wry humor, Smiling in Slow Motion is a document of endeavor, remembrance, and love.