Film Movement has acquired North American rights to Derek Jarman’s Edward II and plans to give the 1991 drama a limited theatrical release on its Film Movement Classics reissue label, with digital and home entertainment releases to follow.
Tilda Swinton and Steven Waddington star in Jarman’s highly stylised adaptation of Christopher Marlowe’s 16th century play about Britain’s only openly gay monarch.
Featuring modern costumes and settings, the film relates how Edward II, a weak monarch with a tenuous grasp on the throne, rejects his wife Queen Isabella and takes a male lover, setting the stage for a palace revolt.
The film was a Golden Lion nominee at Venice and includes Annie Lennox singing Cole Porter’s 1944 classic Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye.
Film Movement co-president Michael Rosenberg said: “We’re excited to bring Derek Jarman’s stunning and radical adaptation of Edward II back to theatres. Captivating on every level, with an incredible turn from a young Tilda Swinton, the film, from a unique director working at the height of his powers, truly resonates as a reflection on modern homophobia”.
The acquisition comes as Film Movement Classics prepares for the North American release of Sergio Corbucci’s spaghetti western The Great Silence.
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