The BFI have announced that they are hosting a major film retrospective of the work of filmmaker Derek Jarman. Titled Queer Pagan Punk, it will take place across February and March 2014, marking the 20th anniversary of his death. The season will draw together key films from his career alongside rarer work, as well as talks and discussions with special guests. The Quietus, as fans of both Jarman’s own work and the films, art and music he inspired, are excited to announce that we will be the BFI’s official media parter for this season.
The film season is split into two halves, one in February and one in March. February’s screenings will be based around the theme of Jarman & The Occult, while the second half takes place in March and is titled New Queer Cinema, focusing on "Jarman’s engagement with new ways of representing gay culture and the AIDS crisis alongside perennial themes of Englishness and landscape".
Among the major screenings taking place are new digital restorations of two of his best-known and acclaimed films, 1976’s Sebastiane and 1986’s Caravaggio (to which Quietus album of 2013 list-toppers Grumbling Fur referred to in the title to their track ‘Tilda Holds A Sword & Lilies’), as well as a one-off screening of Jarman’s Blue taking place in the BFI’s IMAX cinema. Among the rarer work shown will be 1971’s Electric Fairy, Jarman’s earliest known film, as well as films by friends and collaborators including Kenneth Anger and Anthony Balch.
Throughout February and March the films shown will include Savage Messiah, Jubilee, In The Shadow Of The Sun/The Judgment Of Albion, The Tempest/Invocation of My Demon Brother, The Angelic Conversation, The Last Of England, War Requiem, The Garden, Edward II, Isaac Julien’s Derek and more.
Alongside these screenings will be guest speakers including Toyah Wilcox, Dexter Fletcher, Isaac Julien, Tariq Ali, James McKay, Keith Collins, John Maybury and Don Boyd.
Tickets available for the events taking place throughout the BFI’s Derek Jarman season will be available via the BFI Southbank website – click here to visit the site. And keep an eye on the Quietus closer to the time for a series of features around Jarman’s life, work and influence.
