Rising from the nihilistic ashes of the punk movement in the late 1970s, a fresh crowd of flamboyant fashionistas, who would later be christened the New Romantics, began to materialise on the streets of London. An elaborately styled, gender non-conforming response to the anarchist anti-fashion that preceded it, the New Romantics came dressed to the nines, be it for a night out on the town or just to pop down to the local shops. While so often remembered as a fleeting pop-cultural phenomenon, this invigorating documentary firmly positions the New Romantics as a multidisciplinary art movement, encompassing fashion, performance, music and film. Alongside this cultural re-contextualisation, director Kevin Hegge shines a long-overdue spotlight on some of the movement’s lesser-known pioneers (step aside Spandau Ballet), while proudly centring the LGBTQIA+ stories that are so often erased from history.
Documentary about British artist Andrew Logan as he attempts to put on the 2009 edition of his Alternative Miss World. The film also presents a history of the contest (which has run eccentrically since 1972) which was set up firstly as an excuse to have a good party, but has grown into a celebration of alternative lifestyles and sexualities. The documentary mixes archive footage, animated inserts, with talking head interviews and a fly-on-the-wall look at the organisation of the 2009 event
Self - artist
This film features some of the most important living Postmodern practitioners, Charles Jencks, Robert A M Stern and Sir Terry Farrell among them, and asks them how and why Postmodernism came about, and what it means to be Postmodern. This film was originally made for the V&A exhibition 'Postmodernism: Style and Subversion 1970 - 1990'.
Hypnotherapist
In London, during October 1993, England is playing Holland in the preliminaries of the World Cup. The Bosnian War is at its height, and refugees from the ex-Yugoslavia are arriving. Football rivals, and political adversaries from the Balkans all precipitate conflict and amusing situations. Meanwhile, the lives of four English families are affected in different ways by encounter with the refugees.
Himself
A collage of Derek Jarman's super 8 footage spanning over 20 years.
'The Shadow of the Sun' draws upon Derek Jarman’s interest with alchemical processes as a metaphor for reprocessing Super-8 film. Jarman once described film’s union of light and matter as “an alchemical conjunction” and experimented throughout his career with creating dream symbolism through the superimposition of image and action. Originally called English Apocalypse, the film’s final title is derived from a 17th Century alchemical text that used the phrase as a synonym for the philosopher’s stone – the highly sought substance that turns base metals into gold and silver. The film was intended as a step toward the idea of an ambient video, that like its musical counterpart, was designed to enhance an environment.
Self - Your Host + Hostess
A filmed record of the 1978 "Alternative Miss World" beauty pageant held in a circus tent on Clapham Common in South London.
Emperor's Guest
Rome, AD 303. Emperor Diocletian demotes his favourite, Sebastian, from captain of the palace guard to the rank of common soldier and banishes him to a remote coastal outpost where his fellow soldiers, weakened by their desires, turn to homosexual activities to satisfy their needs. Sebastian becomes the target of lust for the officer Severus, but repeatedly rejects the man's advances. Castigated for his Christian faith, he is tortured, humiliated and ultimately killed.
Thanks
Rome, AD 303. Emperor Diocletian demotes his favourite, Sebastian, from captain of the palace guard to the rank of common soldier and banishes him to a remote coastal outpost where his fellow soldiers, weakened by their desires, turn to homosexual activities to satisfy their needs. Sebastian becomes the target of lust for the officer Severus, but repeatedly rejects the man's advances. Castigated for his Christian faith, he is tortured, humiliated and ultimately killed.
A filmed record of a bizarre garden party organized to pay a fine incurred by singer Ulla for "liberating a chandelier from Harrods."
Himself
An experimental short film by Derek Jarman the depicts the crush of flesh at an art-world event.
