Derek Jarman- painter, theatre designer and filmmaker- held his first one man show at the Lisson Gallery in 1969. He designed sets and costumes for the theatre (Jazz Calendar with Frederick Ashton and Don Giovanni at the Coliseum). He was production designer for Ken Russell's films The Devils and Savage Messiah, during which time he worked on his own films in Super 8 before making his features: Sebastiane (1975), Jubilee (1977) and The Tempest (1979). From 1980 he returned to painting (a show at the ICA) and design (The Rake's Progress with Ken Russell in Florence), and made the films Caravaggio (1986), The Last of England (1987), War Requiem (1988), The Garden (1990), Edward II (1991), Wittgenstein (1992) and Blue (1993). His books include: Dancing Ledge (1984), The Last of England (1987; now republished by Vintage under the title the author intended for it, Kicking the Pricks), Modern Nature (1991), At Your Own Risk (1992) and Chroma (1994). Derek Jarman died in February 1994.

Written between May 1991 and February 1994, and ending just two weeks before his death from an AIDS-related illness , Derek Jarman’s entries in Smiling in Slow Motion pick up where Modern Nature left off. Friends and enemies are reviewed as he races through his last years painting, filmmaking, gardening, and annoying his targets through his involvement in radical politics. Infused throughout with familiar honesty and wry humor, Smiling in Slow Motion is a document of endeavor, remembrance, and love.