Ken Loach
“A movie isn't a political movement, a party or even an article. It's just a film. At best it can add its voice to public outrage.”
“A lot of classic dramas center on families. It's the raw material for drama quite often, isn't it? Even though families are the springboard for everything we do, we could be glib and say that families are political entities with a small p. Of course, they're not exact mirrors of the world outside, but they launch you into the world and form you, so you can't imagine a character without a family. Before we start filming, we work out a little family plan for everybody, because then you know what's projected you into a particular situation.”
“it's about finding a subject which will be an apparently simple narrative but which will have a significance beyond the story and characters, who have a contradiction which they have to unravel. It's the untying of that knot through the narrative to a climax or revolution ... The story should make connections, beyond the story of that person.”
Selected Filmography
Cathy Come Home (1966)
Poor Cow (1967)
Kes (1970)
Looks and Smiles (1981)
Riff-Raff (1991)
Raining Stones (1993)
Land and Freedom (1995)
Carla’s Song (1996)
My Name is Joe (1998)
Bread and Roses (2000)
Sweet Sixteen (2002)
Ae Fond Kiss (2004)
The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006)
Looking for Eric (2009)
About
Born 17 June 1936 Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England
Links
IMDB - for a comprehensive filmography and some external links
Wikipedia - this is quite an extensive article
You Tube - a huge selection of clips here, some interviews, trailers, clips from films, political stuff ...
Senses of Cinema - a profile by Mike Robins
The Cinema of Ken Loach: Art in the Service of the People - a Google book by Jacob Leigh
Cineaste - a 1998 interview with Susan Ryan and Richard Porton, entitled, The Politics of Everyday Life.
Ken Loach and Eric Cantona - The Guardian’s Simon Hattenstone interviews Ken Loach and Eric Cantona
Ken Loach and Paul Laverty - an interview at the BFI, Southbank, with the Guardian’s Simon Hattenstone
Jump Cut - from the Archives - a 1976 interview with Ken Loach and Tony Garnett, entitled Family Life in the Making
Ken Loach talks about The Wind that Shakes the Barley at the Barbican - if you have broadband and lots of download allowance, you can download this forty minute talk by Loach
Ken Loach could now be considered a grand old man of English cinema, a cherished auteur who has even been offered the OBE (turned down by Loach), but it was not ever thus.
Ken Loach was born and grew up in Nuneaton, did his National Service in the RAF and studied law at Oxford. But whilst there he became involved in the theatre, and began his career as an actor. In the 60s he moved into television, and teamed up with producer, Tony Garnett to direct a series of controversial and ground-breaking films, starting with Cathy Come Home. Kes in 1970 was his first feature film and is still considered by many as the best British film ever. In the 70s and 80s his work was not much shown - these were the Thatcher years, and he found it difficult to have his work released. But in the 90s he spectacularly returned to form with a series of films, beginning with Riff Raff and continuing with many more. The list at right is just a selection. He often works with the same crew - most notably of late, Paul Laverty as writer and is still involved in politics.