“Hope is political. If you have hope then you have confidence you can change things”

After 60 years of filmmaking, British filmmaker & icon Ken Loach offers what may well be his most urgent message yet, calling for solidarity and the power that hope can instil in his latest film The Old Oak (2023).

Speaking with our host Elliot, Ken reveals how he never runs out of stories to tell when it comes to championing the everyday people. He says, these are the very stories and people that can pave the way for change.

At 87 years old, we hear the films of the 1960s Ken still returns to and how he still carries the spirit of filmmaking during these revolutionary times with him today.

If there was ever a time to be reminded of hope and solidarity it is now. 

Films mentioned

(click on the links for tickets to screenings at LAB111)

• The Old Oak (Ken Loach, 2023)
• Cathy Come Home (Ken Loach, 1966)
• Kes (Ken Loach, 1969)
• Land & Freedom (Ken Loach, 1995)
• Sorry We Missed You (Ken Loach, 2019)
• The Wind That Shakes The Barley (Ken Loach, 2006)
• I, Daniel Blake (Ken Loach, 2016)
• Loves of a Blonde (Miloš Forman, 1965)
• Closely Watched Trains (Jiří Menzel, 1966)
• The Fireman’s Ball (Miloš Forman, 1967)
• Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio De Sica, 1948)
• The Battle of Algiers (Gillo Pontecorvo, 1966)

Our hosts