Ken Loach
English film director and screenwriter (born 1936) · United Kingdom · Directors
Ken Loach is read about 1,247 times a day, in 50 languages.
Counted to 16 September 2026, not since.
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 60 days, one point a day.
Something wrong?He's won the Palme d'Or twice, holds the record for most films in Cannes competition, and spent six decades pointing his camera at the people the industry mostly ignores - the poor, the homeless, the workers ground down by the system.
A life in dates
Jane Austen: Rise of a GeniusSeries2023
Cannes UncutFilm2022
Reel BritanniaSeries2019
Sorry We Missed YouFilm, Director2016European University Film AwardAwardPalme d'OrAward2013
The Spirit of '45Film, Director, Writer2012Lumière Award, Lyon Festival of cinemaAwardRobert-Bresson AwardAward
SquareSeries, 20122011Honorary DoctorateAward
Route IrishFilm, 2011Director2010Annual award ACFKAward2007
British Film ForeverSeries
It's a Free World...Film, 2007Director, Producer2006BAFTA FellowshipAwardPalme d'OrAward2004
Ae Fond Kiss...Film, Director2003Praemium ImperialeAward2002European Film Academy Critics AwardAward2001“I turned down the OBE because it's not a club you want to join when you look at the villains who've got it.”In their words13 March 2001From an interview in the Radio Times as cited in "Director Loach slams TV news" BBC News (13 March 2001)
The NavigatorsFilm, 2001Director1995European Film Award for Best FilmAwardKonrad Wolf PrizeAward
Land and FreedomFilm, 1995Director1991European Film Award for Best FilmAward
Riff-RaffFilm, 1991Director1990Jury PrizeAward1989“MAX STAFFORD-CLARK claims that the decision to ban Perdition from the Royal Court was his alone (Letters, March 3).Nonsense.”In their words1989-2014“[On politics in the 1960s] There was a feeling that there was a great possibility of political change.”In their words1989-20141987“[Screenings of Loach's work suffered during this period] You are only part of a process of communication with a lot of people who have no chance to be heard at all.”In their words22 March 1987From an interview, as cited in "Shoulder to Shoulder", The Observer (22 March 1987), p. 23
DispatchesSeries, 1987Director1986
FatherlandFilm, Director1985
TelevisionSeries1979
Black JackFilm, Director, Writer1975
Days of HopeSeries, Director, Creator1971“You can't treat mental health on an assembly line, which is the way it is now organised.”In their words27 November 1971From an interview, as cited in "Garnett and Loach on the NHS", Evening Standard (27 November 1971), p. 13Film '72Series1969“Kes is really about the colossal wastages of kids, whose lives and abilities are written off before they're even in their teens.”In their words30 June 1969From an interview, as cited in "Content with content", The Guardian (30 June 1969), p. 61967
Poor CowFilm, Director, Writer1965
Up the JunctionFilm, Director1964
Diary of a Young ManSeries, Director1962
Z-CarsSeries, Director1936Born17 June 1936Also in Deutsch
Photos 8
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In their own words 10
, I turned down the OBE because it's not a club you want to join when you look at the villains who've got it.
MAX STAFFORD-CLARK claims that the decision to ban Perdition from the Royal Court was his alone (Letters, March 3).Nonsense.
Perdition was stopped because it criticised Zionist leaders in Budapest for co-operating with the Nazis in sending half a million Jews to the camps.
Filmography 40
TOThe Old OakCUCannes Uncut
FMFilm: The Living Record of Our MemorySYSorry We Missed You
IBI, Daniel Blake
VLVersus: The Life and Films of Ken Loach
JHJimmy's Hall
WMWe Are ManyTOThe Spirit of '45
TSThe Angels' Share
CACatastroikaRIRoute Irish
LELooking for Eric
GDGreat Directors
VDVittorio D.
TCTo Each His Own CinemaIWIt's a Free World...
TBThe Wind That Shakes the Barley
TITickets
MCMcLibelAKAe Fond Kiss...
SSSweet Sixteen
SESeptember 11TNThe Navigators
BRBread and Roses
MJMy Name Is Joe
CSCarla's SongLFLand and Freedom
LLLadybird Ladybird
RSRaining StonesRRRiff-Raff
HAHidden AgendaFAFatherland
LSLooks and SmilesBJBlack Jack
FLFamily Life
KEKesPCPoor Cow
CHCathy Come HomeUJUp the Junction148 credits on file
Television 24
JGJane Austen: Rise of a Genius
FCFaut Voir - L'Hebdo cinémaRBReel Britannia
VLVictoria Wood: The Secret List
JWJohn Bishop: In Conversation with...SQSquare
TOThe Story of Film: An OdysseyBFBritish Film Forever
MTModern TimesDIDispatchesTETelevision
QTQuestion Time
TSThe South Bank ShowDHDays of Hope
PTPlay for Today
ITITV Saturday Night Theatre
TPThe Wednesday PlayDMDiary of a Young ManZCZ-CarsAwards
In their orbit
Child: Jim LoachAbout this person
Born 17 June 1936, Kenneth Charles Loach became the rare British filmmaker whose socialism wasn't subtext but structure. Cathy Come Home in 1966 made homelessness impossible to look away from; Poor Cow the next year kept the lens on poverty. Kes in 1969 - later voted the seventh greatest British film of the century - proved you could make poetry from a kid and a kestrel in a failing northern town. He kept going: labour rights in Riff-Raff in 1991 and The Navigators in 2001, then the Palme d'Or for The Wind That Shakes the Barley in 2006 and again for I, Daniel Blake a decade later, joining only nine other directors in that club. Fifteen films in Cannes competition, more than anyone. He retired having never softened the edge.
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