Introduction
Ken Loach is a British film and television director, and the UK's foremost political filmmaker.
Born in 1936 in Nuneaton, Ken Loach studied law at Oxford, but branched into a repertory stage career (at one point understudying Kenneth Williams in Leicester). Shifting into television, he forged an alliance with producer Tony Garnett and developed the docudrama format via a series of hard-hitting ‘plays’ such as Cathy Come Home.
Loach made his feature debut Poor Cow in 1967 and with Kes, two years later, he directed what is now acclaimed as one of the finest films ever made in Britain. His socially combative work over the next decade or two was often kept off the radar by a combination of poor distribution and broadcasting censorship. Loach's star rose again in the 1990s as award followed award for feature work no less engaged, and he came to be regarded as one of Europe's premier filmmakers.
Highlighted works
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Carol White (Cathy Come Home) stars in Ken Loach’s debut film, as a working-class single mother living in the London slums.
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The tough, touching story of a northern schoolboy and the kestrel that brings hope to his hardscrabble life remains the most widely admired of Ken Loach’s films.
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A teenager attempts to raise money to help his drug addict mother move out of a poverty-stricken Scottish town in Ken Loach’s forceful drama.
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Robert Carlyle and Ricky Tomlinson star in Ken Loach’s tragicomedy set on a London building site.
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The privatisation of British Rail has grim repercussions for a group of railway workers in Yorkshire.
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The Wind That Shakes the Barley
Ken Loach won his first Palme d’Or for his controversial depiction of two brothers who join the Republican Army in 1920 to fight for Irish independence.
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Ian Hart stars as a Liverpool Communist Party member who joins the republicans to fight Franco in the Spanish Civil War.
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A post 9/11 cross-cultural romance is the focus of Ken Loach’s award-winning feature, set in Glasgow.
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The killing of an American activist by the police in Northern Ireland reveals a high-reaching political conspiracy in Ken Loach’s thriller.
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In Ken Loach's powerful drama, a middle-aged carpenter, who requires state welfare after injuring himself, is joined by a single mother in a similar scenario.
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An unemployed man goes to great lengths to amass enough money to buy his daughter a communion dress.
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Ken Loach’s film remake of his earlier TV drama In Two Minds explores the treatment of a teenager’s schizophrenia.
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Peter Mullan won the best actor award at Cannes for his portrayal of a recovering alcoholic in Ken Loach’s uncompromising drama.
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In Ken Loach’s drama, Robert Carlyle stars as a Glaswegian who falls in love with a Nicaraguan woman living in exile.
Filmography
2018
Director
2016
Director
2016
Versus The Life and Films of Ken Loach
With Special Thanks
on-screen participant2016
Water and Sugar Carlo Di Palma The Colours of Life
on-screen participant
2015
Ken Loach in Conversation with Cillian Murphy
interviewee
2014
Directed by
2014
The producers would like to thank all who helped in the making of this film, and in particular
2013
Director
2012
Directed by
2012
Melvyn Bragg on Class and Culture[02/03/2012]
on-screen participant
2012
interviewee
2011
Director
2010
cast member
2009
Director
2009
On-screen participant
2008
on-screen participant
2007
Director
2007
CHACUN SON CINÉMA OU CE PETIT COUP AU COEUR QUAND LA LUMIÈRE S'ÉTEINT ET QUE LE FILM COMMENCE
Director (HAPPY ENDING)
2007
Hard Luck, Humour and Heroes The Story of Social Realism
interviewee
2006
The Wind That Shakes the Barley
Director
2005
Director [3]
2005
Drama Director
2004
Director
2004
Special Thanks to
2004
interviewee
2003
[Subject of Film]
cast member2002
Director
2002
Director
2002
Director
Screenplay2002
Director [6]
Written by [6]2002
interviewee
2001
Director
2001
on-screen participant
2001
Ken and Rosa: The Making of Bread and Roses
on-screen participant
2001
on-screen participant
2000
Stars and Their Lives[15/07/2000]
on-screen participant
2000
on-screen participant
1999
Music Performed by (Bass)
1999
Thanks to
1999
Le CINÉMA BRITANNIQUE AUJOURD'HUI: LA TRADITION DES FRANCS-TIREURS
interviewee
1999
interviewee
1998
Director
1998
Director
1998
Kenneth Williams Seriously Outrageous
on-screen participant
1997
Socialist Labour Party[26/04/97]
Director
1997
Director
1997
[Subject of Film]
1997
A Splice of Life: 15 Years of Film on Four
on-screen participant
1996
Director
1996
[Subject of Film]
1996
Co-producer
1995
Director
1995
Loach on Location Making Land & Freedom
on-screen participant
1995
on-screen participant
1995
Protagonist
1995
on-screen participant
1994
Director
1994
interviewee
1994
interviewee
1994
interviewee
1993
Director
1993
[Subject of Film]
interviewee1993
presenter
1993
interviewee
1993
interviewee
1993
on-screen participant
1993
interviewee
1992
interviewee
1991
Director
1991
Director
1991
Director
1991
on-screen participant
1990
Conference de presse "Hidden Agenda"
panel member
1990
on-screen participant
1989
Director
Producer1989
Director
1988
on-screen participant
1988
on-screen participant
1986
Director
1986
British Cinema: A Personal View Richard Attenborough Slates 40-41 Ken Loach Interview
Interviewee
1986
British Cinema: A Personal View Richard Attenborough Slates 42-43 Ken Loach Interview
Interviewee
1986
British Cinema: A Personal View Richard Attenborough Slates 44-46 Ken Loach Interview
Interviewee
1986
A Turnip-head's Guide to the British Cinema
on-screen participant
1985
Which Side Are You On? Songs, Poems and Experiences of the Miners' Strike, 1984
[Director]
[Producer]1985
Director
Producer1985
Shooting from the Heart Chris Menges: Cameraman
cast member
1984
cast member
1983
The Red and the Blue - Impressions of Two Political Conferences - Autumn 1982
Director
1983
on-screen participant
1982
Director
1982
Director
1982
Director
1982
Director
1982
Director
1981
Directed by
Compiled by1980
Director
Producer1980
Directed by
1980
interviewee
1979
Directed by
Adapted by1977
Director
1977
Director
1975
Director
1975
Director
1975
Director
1975
Director
1973
Director [MISFORTUNE]
1972
on-screen participant
1971
[Uncredited Director]
1971
Director
1971
Director
1971
Director
1971
Director
1970
Director
Adaptation1970
[Subject of Film]
1969
Director
Producer1968
Directed by
Screenplay by1968
Directed by
1967
Director
1966
Director
[Screenplay]1965
Director
1965
Director
1965
Director
1965
Director
1965
Director
1965
Director
1964
Directed by
1964
Director
1964
Director
1964
Director
1964
Director
1964
Survival or They Came to a City
Directed by
1964
Director
Sight & Sound magazine
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Reviews, interviews and features from the international film magazine.
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