Derek Jarman

An icon both of avant garde filmmaking and of the battle for gay rights, Derek Jarman was born Michael Derek Elworthy Jarman in London. Initially taking up studies as a painter, Jarman attended King's College and later University College London, at first beginning his career as an artist and set designer. However he would soon take an interest in directing highly experimental short films, which were usually shot using a Super 8 camera, and by 1976, Jarman had amassed both the enthusiasm and modest budget to complete his first feature length film, "Sebastiane" (1976), a semi-erotic depiction of the life of Saint Sebastiane shot entirely in Latin. Jarman would go on to direct an unconventional adaptation of Shakespeare's "The Tempest" (1979) a few years later, before returning to the short-film format for several years as he raised money for what would be perhaps his best known feature film, a biopic of the Renaissance painter "Caravaggio" (1986). Jarman would also spend much the the 1980s and early 1990s campaigning tirelessly for gay rights, even as he directed still more unconventional and often non-narrative films such as "War Requiem" (1989), "Edward II" (1991), and finally, "Blue" (1993). Derek Jarman passed away in 1994. He was 52 years old.