Jubilee

Six Film Scripts

2011
Author:

Derek Jarman
Introduction by Michael O’Pray

A collection of brilliant, largely unrealized, intensely personal film scripts by Derek Jarman

From the early seventies until his death in 1994, Derek Jarman made scores of films. Assembled here are six of his unforgettable film scripts: Akenaten, Jubilee, Bob-Up-A-Down, B Movie: Little England/A Time of Hope, Neutron, and Sod ’Em, five of which have yet to reach the screen and all of which confirm Jarman’s reputation as Britain’s leading independent filmmaker.

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

From the early seventies until his death in 1994, Derek Jarman made scores of films. Assembled here are six of his unforgettable film scripts: Akenaten, Jubilee, Bob-Up-A-Down, B Movie: Little England/A Time of Hope, Neutron, and Sod ’Em, five of which have yet to reach the screen and all of which confirm Jarman’s reputation as Britain’s leading independent filmmaker.

One of England’s foremost filmmakers, Derek Jarman (1942–1994) wrote and directed several 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 United Kingdom and the United States. He is the author of several books, among them Modern Nature, Chroma, and At Your Own Risk, available from University of Minnesota Press.

Michael O'Pray is a reader in film at the School of Architecture, Art, and Design at the University of East London.

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

Jarman [is] the sort of troublemaking visionary who one day may be compared with Blake.

John Gill, Time Out

For all his anger, Jarman never seems brutalised. He retains his humanity and his good humour. His is a wonderfully garrulous, mercurial, polymathic daemon.

Literary Review

For some, Jarman was too much of a Renaissance man, aggressively dragging the arts of the painter and poet into his films. These collected scripts, though, show his pure talent; he writes passionately about often bitter things, what he called the ‘pornographic darkness’ of his work. From his features to experimental Super 8 films, Jarman’s theme was always them-and-us, yet behind all the layered symbolism of sexuality and repression, there is compassion and humour.

Tobias Jones, Observer Review

This is a must read for any Jarman fan as well as anyone interested in the evolution of LGBT cinema.

Amos Lassen

Introduction by Michael O’Pray
1. Akenaten
2. Jubilee
3. Bob-Up-A-Down
4. B Movie: Little England/A Time of Hope
5. Neutron
6. Sod ‘Em