Kicking the Pricks

A Lost Cult Classic of British Counterculture Returns

Originally published in 1987, and out of print for many years, Kicking the Pricks is a key work in Derek Jarman’s oeuvre, documenting the making of one of his most important and politically-charged films, The Last of England.

Featuring diary entries, interviews and notes from the script of the film alongside writing about his childhood, his father, the process through which he came to terms with his sexuality, his early work as a painter and designer, and his debut as a film director, it is one of Jarman’s most radical publications, reflecting unsparingly on what he saw as the corruption of the cinema industry, the moral and personal consequences of AIDS, and Thatcher’s Britain.

This reissue edition features numerous archive photographs, a preface by Jarman’s companion the late Keith Collins, a new suite of poems by Richard Scott, and an extended essay by Jarman scholar Declan Wiffen. It also includes the first-ever publication of an interview with Jarman from 1988, conducted and contextualised by film producer and researcher James Norton.

‘Kicking the Pricks is a heated masterpiece of atmosphere, resistance and insight. And, at its core, is constantly exploring and expounding what it means to be utterly alive, creative and, crucially, constantly creating — irrespective of governmental, societal and bodily forces.’ – Richard Scott