THE BILL DOUGLAS TRILOGY

UK | 1972, 1973, 1978 | B&W | DCP | 121’ | ENGLISH

Bill Douglas’s autobiographical ‘Trilogy’ remains one of the purest masterworks of world cinema. Tracing the protagonist’s childhood and youth in the bleak, post-war Scotland of poverty, Douglas strips the cinematic narrative of every superfluous element, placing his trust in a monolithic power of absolute visual simplicity. Through black-and-white frames of rare beauty and a Doric austerity, the camera captures abandonment and poverty in all their breadth, voraciously seeking out unexpected glimmers of light, weaving an evocative fresco on the themes of memory and survival. Thodoris Karamanolis

MY CHILDHOOD (1972, 46’)

DIRECTOR: Bill Douglas
SCREENWRITER: Bill Douglas
DoP: Mick Campbell
EDITOR: Brand Thumim
PRINCIPAL CAST: Stephen Archibald, Hughie Restorick, Jean Taylor Smith, Karl Fieseler, Bernard McKenna, Paul Kermack, Helena Gloag, Ann Smith

MY AIN FOLK (1973, 55’)

DIRECTOR: Bill Douglas
SCREENWRITER: Bill Douglas
DoP: Mick Campbell
EDITOR: Brand Thumim
PRINCIPAL CAST: Stephen Archibald, Paul Kermack, Jessie Combe, William Carrol, Morag McNee, Lennox Milne, Gerald James

MY WAY HOME (1978, 71’)

DIRECTOR: Bill Douglas
SCREENWRITER: Bill Douglas
DoP: Ray Orton
EDITOR: Mick Audsley
PRINCIPAL CAST: Stephen Archibald, Hughie Restorick, Jean Taylor Smith, Bernard McKenna, Mr. Munro, Paul Kermack, Helena Gloag, Jesse Combe, William Carroll, Anne McLeod

BILL DOUGLAS

Scottish filmmaker, possibly the most significant ‘unknown’ of British cinema. He studied at the London Film School and spent his life pursuing a solitary creative path, amassing a wealth of knowledge, books and other artifacts relating to Cinema in general, items which are now housed at the Bill Douglas Museum of Cinema.

FILMOGRAPHY
1986 Comrades
 1978 My Way Home
 1973 My Ain Folk
 1972 My Childhood