Prospect

Prospect is made from previously unseen rushes taken by Derek Jarman in preparation for his feature film The Garden. Filmed in the late 1980s these rushes not only record Jarman’s early days at Prospect Cottage but also capture the quiet beauty of the Kent coast and the rhythm of Jarman’s daily life – at once archival objects of history and gifts of unrealised vision.

Prospect creates a dream-like palimpsest, an essay-film designed to counter an age too often focused on the informational and excited by categorisation and division. Instead, Prospect takes as its starting point the sprung energy of Jarman’s creative process, in all its vitality, generosity and wide-open vision, to consider what we’ve been gifted, what will help us survive if we just choose to look – what will enable a future.

Director: Sarah Wood. UK, 15 mins, 2025
Produced by James Mackay
A Basilisk Communications Production