Project Detail

The Garden

Synopsis

Based on the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, Derek Jarman's nearly wordless visual narrative intercuts two main stories and a couple of minor ones. A woman, perhaps the Madonna, brings forth her baby to a crowd of intrusive paparazzi; she tries to flee them. Two men who are lovers marry and are arrested by the powers that be. The men are mocked and pilloried, tarred, feathered, and beaten. Loose in this contemporary world of electrical-power transmission lines is also Jesus. The elements, particularly fire and water, content with political power, which is intolerant and murderous. THE GARDEN was originally screened in the Forum programme of the Berlinale in 1991, garnering an OCIC Award - Honourable Mention.
Official Selection Berlinale 2019 - Forum Archival Constellations

Details

Year
1990
Type of project
Features
Running time
95 mins
Director
Derek Jarman
Producer
James Mackay
Editor
Peter Cartwright
Director of Photography
Christopher Hughes
Production Designer
Derek Brown, Christopher Hobbs
Composer
Simon Fisher-Turner
Principal cast
Tilda Swinton, Johnny Mills, Philip MacDonald, Pete Lee-Wilson, Spencer Lee, Roger Cook
Costume Design
Annie Symons
Digital Restoration
British Film Institute, Halo Post London

Categories

Production Status

Production Company

Basilik Communications

James Mackay

Sales Company

Basilik Communications

James Mackay

Page updates

This page was last updated on 12th May 2025. Please let us know if we need to make any amendments or request edit access by clicking below.

See also

You may also be interested in other relevant projects in the database.

Caravaggio Caravaggio

Director: Derek Jarman

Year: 1986

The life and work of the painter whose death in 1610 followed years on the run as a murderer. The film links the characters in Caravaggio's art with the violent events of his career. On its initial release, Caravaggio won a Silver Bear for outstanding single achievement in visual composition at the 1986 Berlinale. To coincide with the 20th anniversary of Derek Jarman's death, the film has now been digitally restored.

A woman sits in her car staring out of the window Dread

Director: Gabe Gabriel, Loren Loubser

Year: 2026

Soft-spoken transmasc driver, Toni, is used to dealing with an array of strange customers in their day-to-day work transporting locals and tourists through the economically divided City of Cape Town in their late father’s vintage Daimler. But when Claudia, a German digital nomad with blonde dreadlocks, offloads a traumatic story on a short ride across town, Toni’s car becomes dangerously possessed with Claudia’s invisible trauma demon. Inside Out Film Festival 2026 Wicked Queer: Boston's LGBTQ+ Film Festival 2026

A disturbed looking man stares straight into the camera Welcome

Director: Maryam Hamidi

Year: 2026

A famous black actor accepts a role in a lucrative government film, but when he learns he’s starring in a welcome video for a British Internment camp, he is confronted by the devastating cost of his political indifference.