Jarman spent seven years making experimental Super 8mm films and attempting to raise money for Caravaggio (he later claimed to have rewritten the script seventeen times during this period). His artistic practice in the early 1980s reflected these commitments, especially in The Angelic Conversation (1985), a film in which the imagery is accompanied by Judi Dench's voice reciting Shakespeare's sonnets. He also worked to raise awareness of AIDS. ĭuring the 1980s, Jarman was a leading campaigner against Clause 28, which sought to ban the "promotion" of homosexuality in schools. This was followed in 1979 by an adaptation of Shakespeare's The Tempest. Jubilee has been described as "Britain's only decent punk film", and featured punk groups and figures such as Jayne County of Wayne County & the Electric Chairs, Jordan, Toyah Willcox, and Adam and the Ants. He followed this with Jubilee (shot 1977, released 1978), in which Queen Elizabeth I of England is seen to be transported forward in time to a desolate and brutal wasteland ruled by her twentieth-century namesake. This was one of the first British films to feature positive images of gay sexuality its dialogue was entirely in Latin. He made his mainstream narrative filmmaking debut with Sebastiane (1976), about the martyrdom of Saint Sebastian. His break in the film industry came as production designer for Ken Russell's The Devils (1971). Jarman first became known as a stage designer. The Angelic Conversation featured Toby Mott and other members of the Grey Organisation, a radical artist collective. The Garden was entered into the 17th Moscow International Film Festival. Jarman's first films were experimental Super 8mm shorts, a form he never entirely abandoned, and later developed further in his films Imagining October (1984), The Angelic Conversation (1985), The Last of England (1987) and The Garden (1990) as a parallel to his narrative work. He is buried in the graveyard at St Clement's Church, Old Romney, Kent.Ī blue plaque commemorating Jarman was unveiled at Butler's Wharf in London on 19 February 2019, the 25th anniversary of his death. In 1994, he died of an AIDS-related illness in London, aged 52. His illness prompted him to move to Prospect Cottage, Dungeness, in Kent, near the nuclear power station. On 22 December 1986, Jarman was diagnosed as HIV positive and discussed his condition in public. Jarman was outspoken about homosexuality, his public fight for gay rights, and his personal struggle with AIDS. He had a studio at Butler's Wharf, London, in the 1970s. This was followed by four years at the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London (UCL), starting in 1963. His father was a Royal Air Force officer, born in New Zealand.Īfter a prep school education at Hordle House School, Jarman went on to board at Canford School in Dorset and from 1960 studied at King's College London.
Jarman was born at the Royal Victoria Nursing Home in Northwood, Middlesex, England, the son of Elizabeth Evelyn ( née Puttock) and Lancelot Elworthy Jarman.