Ken Loach’s advice for young filmmakers
- Text by Cian Traynor
- Photography by Jean Pierre-Vallorani (main image)
It’s the night of the Baftas and Ken Loach is ready to speak his mind. After winning Outstanding British Film for I, Daniel Blake, the director saunters up to the stage in a tuxedo, accepts the award from Nicole Kidman and grips the podium with both hands.
What comes next is classic Loach: in the span of just 110 seconds, he segues gracefully between expressing gratitude, condemning the government and warning of a dark, divisive future.
But in-between the comments that draw applause, in-between the lines that will make headlines, he emphasises the simple power of film.
“They can entertain, they can terrify, they can take us to worlds of imagination, they can make us laugh and they can tell us something about the real world we live in.”
A still from Versus: The Life and Films of Ken Loach (2016) by Louise Osmond.
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