{{Use British English|date=December 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2014}} {{Infobox film | name = Sebastiane | image = sebastianeposter.jpg | alt = | caption = Promotional poster | director = Derek Jarman<br />Paul Humfress | producer = Howard Malin<br />James Whaley | writer = Derek Jarman<br />Paul Humfress<br />James Whaley | starring = {{ill|Leonardo Treviglio|it}}<br />Barney James<br />Richard Warwick<br />Neil Kennedy | music = Brian Eno<br />Andrew Thomas Wilson | cinematography = Peter Middleton | editing = Paul Humfress | distributor = Cinecycle<ref name="bbfc">{{cite web | url=http://bbfc.co.uk/releases/sebastiane-subs-1970 | archive-url=https://archive.today/20141228075307/http://bbfc.co.uk/releases/sebastiane-subs-1970 | url-status=dead | archive-date=28 December 2014 | title=''SEBASTIANE'' (X) | work=British Board of Film Classification | date=13 September 1976 | access-date=27 December 2014}}</ref> | released = {{Film date|df=y|1976|12|15}} | runtime = 85 minutes<!--Theatrical runtime: 85:31--><ref name="bbfc"/> | country = United Kingdom | language = Latin }} '''''Sebastiane''''' is a 1976 Latin-language British historical film directed by Derek Jarman and Paul Humfress and written by Jarman, Humfress and James Whaley. It portrays the events of the life of Saint Sebastian, including his iconic martyrdom by arrows. The film, which was aimed at a gay audience, was controversial for the homoeroticism portrayed between the soldiers and for having dialogue entirely in Latin.
==Plot== In the third century AD, Sebastian is a member of the Emperor Diocletian's personal guard. When he tries to intervene to stop one of the Emperor's catamites from being strangled by one of his bodyguards, Sebastian is exiled to a remote coastal garrison and reduced in rank to private. Sebastian is an early Christian and sublimates his desire for his male companions into the worship of his deity and pacifism. Both incense Severus, the commanding officer of the garrison, who becomes increasingly obsessed with Sebastian, tries to assault him, and ultimately presides over his summary execution for refusing to take up arms in defence of the Roman Empire. Justin, one of his comrades in arms, is also in love with Sebastian, albeit necessarily unrequited, but he forms a friendship with the stubborn celibate pacifist. Adrian and Anthony, two of Sebastian's fellow soldiers, are gay and obviously in love with one another.
==Cast== {{div col}} * Barney James as Severus * Neil Kennedy as Maximus * Leonardo Treviglio as Sebastian * Richard Warwick as Justin * Donald Dunham as Claudius * Daevid Finbar as Julian * Ken Hicks as Adrian * Lindsay Kemp as Dancer * Steffano Massari as Marius * Janusz Romanov as Anthony * Gerald Incandela as Leopard Boy * Robert Medley as Emperor Diocletian {{div col end}}
The emperor's guests included such notables as Peter Hinwood, Nell Campbell, and Patricia Quinn (all of ''Rocky Horror'' fame), Jordan, Philip Sayer, Charlotte Barnes, Nicholas de Jongh, Duggie Fields, Christopher Hobbs, Andrew Logan, and Johnny Rozsa.
==Reception== Margaret Walters, author of ''The Nude Male'', commented that ''Sebastiane'', "where male nudes in various stages of ecstasy positively littered the screen", was "successfully aimed at a very specialized homosexual audience."<ref name="Walters">{{cite book |author=Walters, Margaret |title=The Nude Male: A New Perspective |publisher=Paddington Press |location=London |year=1978 |page=299 |isbn=0-7092-0871-5 }}</ref>
==Home media== {{Anchor|Home media}} The film was released on DVD in the UK and the U.S. A Blu-ray disc was released in the U.S. on August 7, 2012.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Sebastiane-Blu-ray/45320/ |title=Sebastiane Blu-ray |website=blu-ray.com |access-date=December 11, 2020 |quote=Filmed entirely in vulgar Latin, this experimental film recounts the life of Sebastiane, a puritanical but beautiful Christian soldier in the Roman Imperial troops who is martyred when he refuses the homosexual advances of his pagan captain. When this film was released, it was the only English-made film to have required English subtitles, and it is an early film by the noted experimental and outspokenly homosexual director Derek Jarman, who died in 1994.}}</ref>
==See also== {{Portal|Ancient Rome|Film|LGBTQ}}
* List of films set in ancient Rome * List of historical drama films * List of LGBTQ films
==References== {{Reflist}} * [http://sounds.bl.uk/View.aspx?item=024M-C0095X0085XX-0100V0.xml Audio recording of Derek Jarman interviewed by Ken Campbell at the ICA, London, 7 February 1984] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110930085608/http://sounds.bl.uk/View.aspx?item=024M-C0095X0085XX-0100V0.xml |date=30 September 2011 }}
==External links== *{{Wikiquote-inline|Sebastiane|''Sebastiane''}} * {{IMDb title|0075177|Sebastiane}}
{{Derek Jarman}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sebastiane}} Category:1976 British films Category:1976 directorial debut films Category:1976 drama films Category:1976 LGBTQ-related films Category:British drama films Category:British LGBTQ-related films Category:Films directed by Derek Jarman Category:Films about Christian saints Category:Films set in ancient Rome Category:Films set in 3rd-century Roman Empire Category:Films shot in England Category:Films shot in Sardinia Category:Gay-related films Category:Latin-language films Category:LGBTQ and Catholicism Category:Saint Sebastian in art Category:Films scored by Brian Eno