Ken Loach
Ken Loach
Kenneth Charles "Ken" Loachis an English film and television director. 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, homelessnessand labour rights...
ProfessionDirector
Date of Birth17 June 1936
law independence flags
Every time a colony wants independence, the questions on the agenda are: a) how do you get the imperialists out, and b) what kind of society do you build? There are usually the bourgeois nationalists who say, 'Let's just change the flag and keep everything as it was.' Then there are the revolutionaries who say, 'Let's change the property laws.' It's always a critical moment.
propaganda stop sure tide
As sure as the tide comes in, communities will integrate. It is only propaganda that will stop it.
anybody appalled bring closing funding harm valuable withdraw
I was appalled at the idea anybody would withdraw funding from such a valuable project. Closing it would bring harm to the whole community, so why do it?
aesthetic coherent directors dominated executives fall quality shared stand team writers
It will stand or fall on the quality of the writers. They need a team of directors and writers with a shared aesthetic and a coherent outlook, who won't be dominated by executives and commissioning editors.
team mean iraq
No political politicians on the board and stop sub-contracting anyway, which means getting out of Iraq. If anything needs to be policed, it needs to be done through a proper international body... not through us sub-contracting teams of mercenaries.
running war people
In the end the privatisation of war is not acceptable. We shouldn't be issuing these sub-contracts to these contracting companies because the people who run them are making millions. There should be no relationship between ex-politicians and them, like John Reid and Malcolm Rifkind, who are now associated with contracting companies having been ministers of defence. That's unacceptable.
race people records
You'll get unsociable people whatever the nationality, colour, race or creed. I guess the British abroad have probably got the worst record of anyone.
jobs together directors
Shaping it is something I would expect to do together with a writer, because that's a director's job.
war responsibility home
The Iraq war is a huge subject and there have been many films about it. But it was when the private contractors started taking over and taking responsibilities from the regular army, which hides the war. You have these private armies of mercenaries acting with immunity for their actions, the worst of which was the Blackwater case where they killed 17 Iraqi civilians and the guys who did it just went home. We [screenwriter Paul Laverty and Loach] felt this deserved a story.
past thinking views
History is contemporary. Your understanding of history confirms what you think of the present. It's not neutral. I would be very surprised if people with a different view of the present, don't take issue with my view of the past. I just hope that people deal with the content of the film.
sides lessons disputes
One lesson to learn is that the press and the broadcasters are not neutral. And it seems we have to learn it each time there is a dispute: they are actually committed to one side.
voice tiny film
A film is one small voice among other large ones. The film is a tiny part of the discourse. You do what you can but under no illusions of what a film can do.
thinking names looks
I turned down the OBE because its not a club you want to join when you look at the villains whove got it. Its all the things I think are despicable: patronage, deferring to the monarchy and the name of the British Empire, which is a monument of exploitation and conquest.
focus soul directors
The duty of a film director is to focus more on the soul of the spectator.