Ken Loach is an English film director known for his socially critical films dealing with issues like poverty, homelessness, and labor rights from a socialist perspective. Some of his most notable films include Cathy Come Home (1966), Kes (1969), and I, Daniel Blake (2016), which both won the Palme d'Or at Cannes, making him one of few directors to win it twice. Loach takes a realistic approach to filmmaking, using techniques like natural lighting, nonprofessional actors, and improvised scenes. Throughout his career, he has advocated for socialist ideals and critiqued social issues through film.

1. KEN LOACH
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2. Kenneth Charles "Ken" Loach (born 17 June 1936) is
an English director of television and independent film.
He is known for his socially critical directing style and
for his socialist ideals, which are evident in his film
treatment of social issues such as
poverty, homelessness (Cathy Come Home, 1966)
and labor rights (Riff-Raff, 1991, and The Navigators,
2001).Loach's film Kes (1969) was voted the
seventh greatest British film of the 20th century in a
poll by the British Film Institute. Two of his films, The
Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006) and I, Daniel
Blake (2016) received the Palme d'Or at the Cannes
Film Festival, making him the ninth filmmaker to win
the award twice.

3. Loach was a social campaigner for most of his
career. Critics say Loach’s weakness is that he
has never changed: he is still delivering the
same Marxist sermon he was half a century
ago. His fans argue that this is his strength.
Loach himself, now an unlikely 80 years old,
would ask why on earth he should change
when the system remains the same.

4. STYLE:
Ken Loach took his craft to pieces and rebuilt it,
borrowing some techniques (using natural light
whenever possible and casting nonprofessional actors
alongside professionals) and establishing new ones of
his own (shooting chronologically; feeding the
storyline to actors bit by bit, so their reactions are
real; combining improvised shots with closely scripted
ones). It is perhaps this level of realism that
distinguishes his films more than anything: Cathy,
wonderfully played by Carol White, looks shocked
when her child is taken away because the actor was;
ditto the boy who cries in Kes when he is caned on the
hand.

5. Controversial:
From the mid-60s to the end of that decade,
everything Loach did created headlines and set
agendas. It wasn’t just that the films looked and felt
different; the subject matter was radical, too. Up The
Junction started a debate about backstreet abortions,
The Big Flame about workers’ rights and Three Clear
Sundays about the death penalty. This run culminated
in 1969 with Kes, the film based on the Hines
novel about a working-class boy whose love for a
kestrel brings him out of his shell. Loach’s film is as
unsentimental as it is heart wrenching, as brutal as it is
beautiful.

6. WHAT HE BELIEVES:
Why do so many directors have such staying power, I
ask. “It’s a great privilege to make a film, to have it
shown, and for people to see it.” He’s not going to do a
Sinatra, constantly announcing his retirement and
making a comeback. “Nononono, let’s not even talk of
this.” Eighty is a perfectly sensible age, and as long as
he’s physically capable, he will keep making films. Does
he never feel his age? “First thing in the morning, I feel
about 85.” He grins. “But after a good coffee, I feel 79.
People go on a long time now, don’t they? It’s not
something you want to think about much. Just keep
pedaling.”

7. Honours :
Loach has been awarded honorary doctorates by
the University of Bath, the University of Birmingham, Staffordshire
University, and Keele University.
Oxford University awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Civil
Law degree in June 2005.
In May 2006, he was awarded the BAFTA Fellowship at the BAFTA
TV Awards.
Loach also received an Honorary Doctorate from Heriot-Watt
University in 2003.
He received the 2003 Praemium Imperiale (lit. "World Culture Prize
in Memory of His Imperial Highness Prince Takamatsu") in the
category Film/Theatre.
In 2014 he was presented with the Honorary Golden Bear at
the 64th Berlin International Film Festival.
The Raindance Film Festival announced in September 2016 that it
would be honoring Loach with its inaugural Auteur Award, to
recognise his "achievements in filmmaking and contribution to the
film industry."