Derek Jarman Super 8

A brilliantly edited selection of stills from Derek Jarman’s many short Super 8 films, curated and commented on by some of the biggest names in contemporary art and cinema

One of the most influential filmmakers of the late 20th century, Derek Jarman directed cult feature films such as Jubilee (1977) and Caravaggio (1986), as well as music videos for The Smiths, the Pet Shop Boys and Marianne Faithfull. He also trained in fine art and a painterly mentality permeates all his work, particularly his experimental Super 8 films. The Super 8s show Jarman at his most visually courageous and creative, using prisms, filters and superimposition to produce rich colour and artistically bold compositions. Jarman’s producer and collaborator, James Mackay, has painstakingly archived and restored the collection of ninety-two Super 8s bequeathed to him in order to prevent these rarely seen films being lost for ever. This book features key stills and sequences from the films, as chosen and introduced by Liam Gillick, Wilhelm Sasnal, Sarah Turner, Gina Birch, Matthias Müller, Peter Fillingham, Neil Bartlett and Isaac Julien. The transient images, isolated like paintings, are the essence of Derek Jarman and the visual vocabulary of a great artist. This is an indispensable introduction to the Super 8s for all film historians, film students, cinéastes and Jarmanites alike