Blue
Derek Jarman / GB, 1993 / 78 min.
Derek Jarman’s final, most daring film is precisely what its title states: a pure blue screen, with sumptuous sound design. Blue is an exceptional cinematic experience about its creator's life and how he dealt with AIDS – equal parts moving and philosophical.
In Derek Jarman’s beautiful final film (the director died in 1994 from AIDS) the creator of Caravaggio looks back on his life and the many friends he lost to AIDS. He speaks with great candour about his disease and his increasing blindness. This exceptional cinematic experience consists of an entirely blue screen, a remarkable collage featuring the voices of Jarman stalwarts Tilda Swinton, Nigel Terry and John Quentin and a unique ambient soundtrack by Simon Fisher Turner with Brian Eno, Coil and others.
Between the 1970s and 1990s, Derek Jarman (1942 - 1994) was a film maker, painter, poet, diarist, famous gardener and prominent figure in avant-garde and queer London. Blue, his testament to life and death in a time of AIDS not only reflects on being alive and letting go, but also contains a critique of queer activism amid the widespread homophobia common in the UK under Prime Minister Thatcher who came to power in the 1980s.
Screening on 35mm from the Eye collection on the occasion of World Aids Day on December 1.
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Details
Director
Derek Jarman
Production year
1993
Country
GB
Original title
Blue
Length
78 min.
Language
English
Subtitles
NONE
Format
35mm
Part of
Eye on Art
Eye on Art is a programme on the intersection between film and other arts. Eye on Art keeps up with current events, with presentations on contemporary artists and programmes that coincide with important exhibitions, manifestations and Eye activities.
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