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Tickets: www.plazaatlanta.com/.../film-love-the-bill.../ “The masterly control [Bill Douglas] sustains in his trilogy speaks of a determination to leave his mark within the archive of human memory, and, in doing so, the need to let some things remain tender and raw.” – Ed Halter, Light Industry Tender, deeply moving, at times heartbreaking and ultimately life-affirming, Bill Douglas’s filmic re-imagining of his early life in a Scottish mining town stands alongside Satyajit Ray’s Apu Trilogy as one of cinema’s great works about childhood and growing up. On August 28, 2025, the Film Love series continues its residency at Atlanta’s legendary Plaza Theatre with a rare complete screening of the Bill Douglas trilogy. The films will be introduced by curator and Film Love founder Andy Ditzler. Exquisitely photographed in Douglas’s hometown, the trilogy draws on cinematic traditions of documentary and Italian Neorealism in its mix of professional and non-professional actors – beginning with the indelible performance of Stephen Archibald, who was cast by Douglas as Jamie, his alter ego, after a chance encounter at a bus stop whilst Archibald was skipping school. The trilogy’s first two films follow young Jamie through a succession of impoverished living situations that test but do not defeat his indomitable spirit; in the final film, Jamie is a young man serving in the RAF, where he is befriended by fellow soldier Robert, whose friendship opens up emotional and creative landscapes previously undreamt of in Jamie’s life. There is no work of cinema quite like the Bill Douglas Trilogy. Dialogue is minimal and entire worlds of feeling are communicated visually. Stephen Archibald is utterly committed in his unforgettable performance as Jamie. Each shot is constructed to rigorously avoid sentimentality, yet the overall effect is overwhelmingly emotional. Even through all the bleak indignities and injustices of Jamie’s early life, Douglas retains compassion for all his struggling characters. The head of production for the British Film Institute, Mamoun Hassan, described his first reading of Douglas’s script: “There was no depiction of an event which would somehow be filmed, but a series of images and sounds which, simply and concisely, communicated feeling. It was visual storytelling. It was cinema.” When Douglas began shooting, Hassan was equally impressed: “There was no coverage of scenes from different angles; uncompromising, he went for the unique shot. And each shot had an intense clarity of line and feeling. He was a poet.” The shooting of the films was not easy; Hassan recalled Douglas’s emotional breakdowns and the pain he experienced as he struggled to realize his unique cinematic vision while simultaneously confronting head-on the reality of his childhood experiences. But like Jamie, Douglas persevered, and the first of these films, My Childhood, was awarded the prestigious Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Often described as a landmark of world cinema, this trilogy is rarely seen or discussed in the U.S., and is unavailable on consumer video in this country. Film Love is proud to screen the Bill Douglas Trilogy in its entirety at the Plaza Theatre. The Bill Douglas Trilogy: My Childhood (1972, 46 minutes, digital projection) My Ain Folk (1973, 55 minutes, digital projection) My Way Home (1978, 71 minutes, digital projection) This program begins promptly at 7 pm and will include one intermission. The Plaza Theatre 1049 Ponce DeLeon Ave NE, Atlanta, GA 30306 | 470-410-1939 www.plazaatlanta.com
