The unforgettable director of working class films: Who is Ken Loach?
Kenneth Loach is a British director. He is known for his films with social content, shot from a socialist perspective, dealing with the issues of freedom and workers' rights.
He was born in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, in 1936. Ken, the son of Vivien and John Loach, studied Law at Oxford University after serving in the Royal Air Force.
He was introduced to acting during his university years and also worked as an assistant director.
He started directing at the BBC in 1963. After various TV series and films, he shot his first important work, Kes, in 1969.
The Iron Lady had difficulty making and distributing his films in the 80s when Margaret Thatcher was in power. During this period, he chose his subjects mostly from the lives of the lower segments of society.
Kenneth Charles Loach (born 17 June 1936) is a British film director and screenwriter. His socially critical directing style and socialism are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as poverty (Poor Cow, 1967), homelessness (Cathy Come Home, 1966), and labour rights (Riff-Raff, 1991, and The Navigators, 2001).
The documentary he made in 1981, called A Question of Leadership, about the miners' strike, drew the reaction of the Conservative Party, headed by Thatcher. He remained one of Thatcherism's harshest critics until Thatcher's death in 2013.
He received the Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival twice, with his films Hidden Agenda in 1990 and Raining Stones in 1993.
In the 1990s and 2000s, he directed many successful films such as Carla's Song, which is about the Sandinista movement in Nicaragua, Country and Freedom, which tells the story of an Englishman who participated in the Spanish Civil War, and Navigators, which is about the privatization of the railways in England.
This time, he won the Palme d'Or at Cannes with his 2006 film The Wind That Shakes the Barley. In 2016, he won the Palme d'Or once again, this time for the film I, Daniel Blake.
Loach, who always emphasizes his socialist identity in his films, takes the ordinary person and reveals his daily life and the social and material difficulties he experiences in all its nakedness.
He turned down the Order of the Crown (OBE) when he was offered it in 1977. He gave the reason that he did not want to wear the same decoration as some people whom he described as bad people.
It was awarded the Honorary Golden Bear at the 2014 Berlin Film Festival. Loach, who has been married to Lesley Ashton since 1962, has 5 children.