Citizendia

Ken Loach

BornKenneth Loach
17 June 1936 (1936-06-17) (age 71)
Nuneaton,Warwickshire, England
Years active1962 - present

Kenneth Loach (born 17 June 1936), known as Ken Loach, is an English television and film director. Events 1462 - Vlad III the Impaler attempts to assassinate Mehmed II ( The Night Attack) forcing him to retreat Year 1936 ( MCMXXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Nuneaton is the largest town in the English county of Warwickshire, and the borough of Nuneaton and Bedworth. Geography Warwickshire is bounded to the northwest by the West Midlands Metropolitan county and Staffordshire, by Leicestershire to England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Year 1962 ( MCMLXII) was a Common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1462 - Vlad III the Impaler attempts to assassinate Mehmed II ( The Night Attack) forcing him to retreat Year 1936 ( MCMXXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. A television director directs the activities involved in making a Television Episode. A film director, or filmmaker, is a person who directs the making of a Film. He is known for his naturalistic, social realism directing style and for his socialist beliefs, which are evident in his film treatment of social issues as homelessness (e. Social Realism, also known as Socio-Realism, is an Artistic movement, expressed in the visual and other realist arts, which depicts Working class Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating state or collective ownership and administration of the Means of production and distribution Homelessness is the condition and social category of people who lack housing because they cannot afford or are otherwise unable to maintain regular safe and adequate shelter g. , Cathy Come Home) and labour rights (e. Cathy Come Home was a British Television play by Jeremy Sandford, produced by Tony Garnett and directed by Ken Loach Labor rights or workers' rights are a group of Legal rights and claimed Human rights having to do with Labor relations between Workers g. , Riff-Raff). Riff-Raff is a 1990 British film directed by Ken Loach, and starring Robert Carlyle.

Contents

Biography

Born in Nuneaton,Warwickshire, England (his father was a factory electrician), Loach attended King Edward VI Grammar School and following two years in the RAF read law at St Peter's College, Oxford. Nuneaton is the largest town in the English county of Warwickshire, and the borough of Nuneaton and Bedworth. Geography Warwickshire is bounded to the northwest by the West Midlands Metropolitan county and Staffordshire, by Leicestershire to England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland King Edward VI College is a Sixth form college located in Nuneaton, England, in the Warwickshire area St Peter's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom, located in New Inn Hall The University of Oxford (informally "Oxford University" or simply "Oxford" located in the city of Oxford, Oxfordshire, England is the There he performed in the now well established comedy group, the Oxford Revue. The Oxford Revue is a comedy group featuring students from Oxford University, England. He started out as an actor in repertory theatre, but in the early 1960s moved into television direction and was credited in this role on early episodes of Z-Cars in 1962. For other meanings of repertory please see Repertory (disambiguation. Z-Cars (sometimes written as Z Cars) was a British Television drama series centred on the work of beat police in the fictional

In 1966 Loach made the socially influential docu-drama Cathy Come Home portraying neglected subjects such as homelessness and unemployment, and presenting a powerful and influential critique of the workings of the Social Services. Cathy Come Home was a British Television play by Jeremy Sandford, produced by Tony Garnett and directed by Ken Loach In the late 1960s he started directing films, and in 1969 made Kes, the story of a troubled boy and his kestrel, based on the novel A Kestrel for a Knave by Barry Hines. Kes is a British film from 1969 by director Ken Loach and producer Tony Garnett. The Common Kestrel ( Falco tinnunculus) is a Bird of prey Species belonging to the Kestrel group of the Falcon family Barry Hines FRSL (born 1939 is a British Author who has written several popular Novels and television scripts. It remains perhaps his best known film in Britain.

During the 1970s and '80s, Loach's films were less successful, often suffering from poor distribution, lack of interest and political censorship. His film The Save the Children Fund Film (1971) was commissioned by the charity, who subsequently disliked it so much they attempted to have the negative destroyed. Save the Children is a leading international organisation helping children in need around the world It has never been shown in public.

Loach was later commissioned by Channel 4 to make A Question of Leadership, a documentary series on the response of the British trade union movement to the challenge posed by the policies of the Thatcher government. Channel 4 is a public-service Television and Radio broadcaster in the United Kingdom centred around a television channel of the same name which began The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Margaret Hilda Thatcher Baroness Thatcher LG, OM, PC, FRS (born 13 October 1925 However, the programme was not broadcast by Channel 4, a decision Loach claimed was politically motivated. Another film, "Which Side Are You On?" (1984) relating to the UK miners' strike, was commissioned by The South Bank Show, but also withdrawn before transmission. The miners' strike of 1984 – 1985 was a major Industrial action affecting the British coal industry. The South Bank Show is an award-winning Television arts magazine show made by London Weekend Television, presented by Melvyn Bragg, broadcast

However, the 1990s saw Loach return to prominence with the production of a series of critically acclaimed and popular films. During this period he was also three times awarded prizes at the Cannes Film Festival. The Cannes Film Festival (le Festival de Cannes founded in 1946 is one of the world's oldest most influential and prestigious Film festivals alongside Venice, He directed the Courtroom Drama reconstructions in the Docu-film McLibel, about the longest trial in English history. The McDonald's Restaurants v Morris & Steel, colloquially the McLibel case, was a long-running English court action for Libel

In December 2003, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Birmingham. The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a British red brick University located in the city of Birmingham In November 2004, he was elected to the national council of the Respect Coalition[1] and has also stood for election to the European Parliament on a Respect mandate. Respect – The Unity Coalition is a Left wing political party in England and Wales founded on 25 January, 2004 in London. Respect – The Unity Coalition is a Left wing political party in England and Wales founded on 25 January, 2004 in London. Oxford University awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Civil Law degree in June 2005. The University of Oxford (informally "Oxford University" or simply "Oxford" located in the city of Oxford, Oxfordshire, England is the An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa ( Latin: 'for the sake of the honour' is an Academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding Some universities such as the University of Oxford, award Doctor of Civil Law (DCL degrees instead of Doctor of Laws (LL He is also an honorary fellow of St Peter's College[2] In May 2006, he was awarded the BAFTA Fellowship at the BAFTA TV Awards. The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA is a British charity that hosts annual awards shows for film television television craft video games and forms of animation A fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade

On 28 May 2006, Loach won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival for his film The Wind That Shakes the Barley, a movie about the Irish War of Independence and the subsequent Irish Civil War during the 1920s. Events 585 BC - A Solar eclipse occurs as predicted by Greek philosopher and scientist Thales, while Alyattes is battling Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. The Palme d'Or ( English: Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded to competing films at the Cannes Film Festival. The Cannes Film Festival (le Festival de Cannes founded in 1946 is one of the world's oldest most influential and prestigious Film festivals alongside Venice, The Wind That Shakes the Barley is a 2006 Ken Loach Film set during the Irish War of Independence (1919–21 and the Irish Civil War The Irish War of Independence (or Tan War, or Anglo-Irish War, Irish: Cogadh na Saoirse) from January 1919 to July 1921 was a guerrilla The Irish Civil War ( June 28 1922 &ndash May 24 1923) pitted supporters of the Anglo-Irish Treaty against its opponents Loach lives with his family in Bath, England where he is a supporter of and shareholder in Bath City F.C.

Film style

Loach's film work is characterised by a particular view of realism; he strives in every area of filmmaking to emphasise genuine interplay between actors, to the point where some scenes in his films are unscripted. Bath is a city in Somerset in the south west of England It is situated west of London and south-east of Bristol. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland A mutual shareholder or stockholder is an Individual or company (including a Corporation) that legally owns one or more shares of Bath City FC are a football club based in Bath, Somerset, currently playing in the Conference South. Rather than employing method actors, he prefers unknown talent who have had some of the actual life experience of the characters they portray - so much so that many professional actors aspiring to work with Loach will often pretend to be actual construction labourers or other working class types called for in his script. [3].

For Bread and Roses, he chose two leading actors who had experience of union organizing and life as an immigrant. Bread and Roses is a 2000 Film directed by Ken Loach, starring Adrien Brody. The lead actress in the film, Pilar Padilla, actually had to learn English in order to play the part.

He tries to make sure that actors express as genuinely as possible the feelings of their characters by filming the story in order and, crucially, not giving the actors the script until a few minutes before the filming. Frequently only some of the actors will know what is going to happen in a scene - the others will often, therefore, be able to express genuine surprise or sadness because they really are affected by the events of the scene.

Two examples: in Kes the boy actor, discovering the dead bird at the end, believed that the director had actually killed the bird that he had become quite close to during the filming (in fact he had used a dead bird found elsewhere). In Raining Stones one of the actresses visited at her house by a loan shark had no idea that he was going to force her to take off her wedding ring and give it to him as part payment. There are many other such examples.

Ken Loach is a strong opponent of censorship within cinema and was outraged at the 18 certificate given to Sweet Sixteen. Sweet Sixteen is a 2002 Film by director Ken Loach. The film tells the story of a Working class Scottish Loach himself said,

“I think it was a very silly decision, such a patronising attitude as well. People are rarely hurt by swear words, yet you see scenes of violence depicted in films often with a 12 certificate. Some of these films have violence for the sake of it, try and push the certification boundaries. I think in my films that the violence is necessary to portray realism, it’s important to the narrative. And yes, it does put a smokescreen on society because it uses violence as a source of entertainment rather than its actual meaning. ”

Filmography

Television

Cinema

External links

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