Ken Loach
Known for: Directing
Born: June 17, 1936
Place of birth: Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England, UK
Kenneth Charles Loach (born 17 June 1936; Nuneaton) is a retired British film director, screenwriter and producer. His humanist values and socialist political views are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as poverty (Poor Cow, 1967), homelessness (Cathy Come Home, 1966), and labour rights (Riff-Raff, 1991, and The Navigators, 2001). Kenneth Charles Loach was born on 17 June 1936 in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, the son of Vivien (née Hamlin) and John Loach. He attended King Edward VI Grammar School and at the age of 19 went to serve in the Royal Air Force. He read law at St Peter's College, Oxford and graduated with a third-class degree. As a member of the Oxford University Experimental Theatre Club he directed an open-air production of Bartholomew Fair for the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford, in 1959 (when he also took the role of the shady horse-dealer Dan Jordan Knockem). After Oxford, he began a career in the dramatic arts. 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 one of only nine filmmakers to win the award twice.
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Filmography
107 movies · 23 TV shows, newest first
NR
Forgotten Spaceman
2026
7.8
Palestine 36
2025
4.0
Jane Austen: Rise of a Genius
2025
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The Legend of the Palme d’Or Continues
2025NR
Censoring Palestine
2024
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Loach vs Corbyn: The Bad Patriots
2024
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The Bad Patriots
2024
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Uomini in Marcia
2024
7.2
The Old Oak
2023
NR
Faut Voir - L'Hebdo cinéma
2023
5.4
Cannes Uncut
2023
8.0
Ken Loach, le vent de la révolte
2023
NR
Oh Jeremy Corbyn - The Big Lie
2023
7.5
I Get Knocked Down
2023
6.2
C'era una volta in Italia - Giacarta sta arrivando
2022
7.6
Thatcher's Not Dead
2022
7.8
Film: The Living Record of Our Memory
2022
8.5
Reel Britannia
2022
NR
A Bolsa ou a Vida
2021
7.7
Once upon a time... "I, Daniel Blake"
2021
7.0
Victoria Wood: The Secret List
2020
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Drama Out of a Crisis: A Celebration of Play for Today
2020
10.0
The Great NHS Heist
2019
7.0
Greg Davies: Looking for Kes
2019
7.3
Sorry We Missed You
2019
5.0
Who Killed British Cinema?
2018
6.5
CzechMate: In Search of Jiří Menzel
2018
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The Dream Palace: A People's History of Tyneside Cinema
2018
5.2
Water and Sugar – Carlo Di Palma: The Colours of Life
2017NR
How to Make a Ken Loach Film
2016
7.7
I, Daniel Blake
2016
5.8
To Make a Comedy Is No Fun
2016
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In Conversation With Jeremy Corbyn
2016
7.0
John Bishop: In Conversation with...
2016
6.6
Versus: The Life and Films of Ken Loach
2016
8.2
About Cinema
2015
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Il était une fois... « Rosetta »
2015
6.7
We Are Many
2014
6.7
Jimmy's Hall
2014NR
Idyll
2014
6.1
The Spirit of '45
2013
6.0
Jordi Dauder, la revolució pendent
2012
6.9
The Angels' Share
2012
5.3
A Special Day
2012
6.8
Catastroika
2012
NR
Square
2012
7.7
The Story of Film: An Odyssey
2011
6.0
Route Irish
2011
NR
Making Kes
2010
7.5
Celuloide colectivo: el cine en guerra
2009
7.0
What Do You Know About Me
2009
6.3
Vittorio D.
2009
6.5
Looking for Eric
2009
6.1
Great Directors
2009
5.0
40 x 15: The Forty Years of the Directors' Fortnight
2008
6.4
To Each His Own Cinema
2007
6.6
It's a Free World...
2007
5.5
British Film Forever
20078.0
Making Reel History
2006
7.3
The Wind That Shakes the Barley
2006
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Carry On Ken
2006NR
Carry On Ken
2006
6.7
McLibel
2005
6.5
Tickets
2005
6.5
Ae Fond Kiss...
2004
7.0
Sweet Sixteen
2002
6.4
September 11
2002
7.0
Ken and Rosa
2001
6.9
The Navigators
2001
6.3
Bread and Roses
2000
6.5
The Limey
1999
7.3
My Name Is Joe
1998NR
Another City: A Week in the Life of Bath's Football Club
1998
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Citizen Ken Loach
1997
6.3
The Flickering Flame
1996
6.8
Carla's Song
1996
7.3
Land and Freedom
1995
9.0
Modern Times
19958.0
A Contemporary Case for Common Ownership
1995
7.2
Ladybird Ladybird
1994
6.9
Raining Stones
1993
6.7
Riff-Raff
1991
NR
The Arthur Legend
1991
6.9
Hidden Agenda
1990
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The Making of 'Hidden Agenda'
1990
7.0
The View from the Woodpile
1989
6.0
Time to Go
1989
6.5
Dispatches
1987
6.3
Fatherland
1986NR
Split Screen
1986
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A Turnip Head's Guide To The British Cinema
1986
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Shooting from the Heart: Chris Menges, Cameraman
1985
6.6
Which Side Are You On?
1985
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End of the Battle... Not the End of the War
1985
8.0
Television
19858.0
The Red and the Blue
1983
6.7
Looks and Smiles
1981
4.3
A Question of Leadership
19817.0
Auditions
1980
6.0
The Gamekeeper
1980
5.9
Question Time
1979
7.0
Black Jack
1979
5.8
The Price of Coal, Part 2: Back to Reality
1977
6.0
The Price of Coal, Part 1: Meet the People
1977
7.0
Days of Hope
1975
NR
Right to Work March
1972NR
Full House
1972
6.0
Talk About Work
1971
7.3
Family Life
19715.1
Film '72
1971
6.8
The Rank and File
1971
7.0
The Save the Children Fund Film
1971
6.6
Play for Today
1970
7.4
Kes
1970
6.8
The Big Flame
1969
7.0
ITV Saturday Night Theatre
1969
6.4
The Golden Vision
1968
6.4
Poor Cow
1967
7.0
In Two Minds
1967
7.0
Cathy Come Home
1966
8.0
The Coming Out Party
1965
5.5
The End of Arthur's Marriage
1965
7.0
Up the Junction
1965
6.0
Three Clear Sundays
1965NR
Wear a Very Big Hat
19657.0
A Tap on the Shoulder
1965
5.2
The Wednesday Play
1964
9.0
Diary of a Young Man
1964NR
Teletale
1963
7.3
Z-Cars
1962