The Bill Douglas My Best Friend trailer has arrived from Hopscotch Films. This is a new documentary from Jack Archer is coming to cinemas from 27th September.
Bill Douglas was Scotland’s finest director, celebrated by other great filmmakers including Lynne Ramsay, Lenny Abrahamson, Satajit Ray and Yuliya Solntseva. In his short career he made four films, an autobiographical trilogy My Childhood, My Ain Folk and My Way Home about his appalling childhood and Comrades, an epic about a momentous moment in English history. Every shot in these films is an art work and every sequence a poem.
Bill’s life was transformed when he was on National Service in the Egyptian desert and met the man who would become his lifelong friend, Peter Jewell. The two men had very different backgrounds but they formed a unique bond that channelled a tremendous creative energy.
In this film Peter reminisces about the life he shared with Bill in their tiny Soho flat filled with cinema memorabilia. Their love of the movies led them to start experimenting with an 8mm camera. Peter’s memories and musings about the legacy Bill left behind are illustrated with these never-before-seen short films.
Related: Here’s The Latest Trailer For Lynne Ramsay’s ‘You Were Never Really Here’
The film screened at Venice and Glasgow and now gets its big domestic release. Looking forward to catching this.
On opening day, the film will also screen at Craigmillar Now, the arts centre in Newcraighall where Bill grew up and shot his films.
Watch the Bill Douglas My Best Friend trailer below.
Paul Heath
Sep 11, 2024 at 12:51 pm
Very much looking forward to catching this film. Anyone seen it?