Spirit of '45 and The Happy Lands @ Robert Burns Centre

And sticking with the film theme, Dumfries Trades Union Council is sponsoring two film screenings at the Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre, next month.

These are – on Saturday 11 May at 2pm – the new Theatre Workshop Scotland production The Happy Lands, about the effect of the 1926 General Strike on a mining community in Fife, and – on Monday 13 May at 6.30pm – the new Ken Loach documentary, The Spirit of '45, about the enthusiasm amongst British people for the creation of the welfare state, the National Health Service, and the public ownership of industry, following the Second World War.

The films highlight two momentous years in twentieth-century Scottish history. 

The Happy Lands, a full-length feature film, has mainly non-professional actors from the former mining communities of Fife playing their own grandparents in real-life situations, details of which were handed down orally through the generations from 1926, and creates a powerful and moving film that had the audience at Blantyre Miners Welfare bursting into spontaneous applause as the credits came up at the end. Director Robert Rae will be attending for a question-and-answer session after the film. The film premiered at this year's Glasgow Film Festival in February.

The Spirit of '45 uses a combination of national and regional archive film together with new interviews of some of those who remember the excitement of the postwar period and the collective spirit of the time. It is a timely reminder of what a caring, less market-oriented society can be and includes some inspiring and heart-wrenching footage of a time when collective provision came before consumer choice. There will be a discussion of the film following the screening.

Tickets for both films can be booked via the Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre box office on 01387 264808. Discounts are available for trade union members.