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The bread and butter of film festivals is the unveiling of new movies. And in the case of the major festivals taking place in the late summer and early fall — Venice, Telluride, Toronto and New York — the selections offer a preview of potential Oscar nominees and winners. Remember the eight-minute standing ovation Brendan Fraser received last year at Venice for “The Whale”? It kicked off his comeback and journey to a best Oscar win this year.

And with the 50th annual Telluride Film Festival kicking off August 31 at in the picturesque Colorado mountain burg, let’s take the cinematic time machine back 1993 when the fest was a mere 20 years old. John Boorman of “Deliverance” and “Hope and Glory” fame was the guest director of the festival. Jennifer Jason Leigh, then just 31 and whose latest film was Robert Altman’s “Short Cuts,” was honored with a tribute as was socialist British director Ken Loach,...

Will Ken Loach three-peat with what could be his last-ever feature? This is the question that Thierry Frémaux put forth and perhaps the best was indeed saved for last. The Kitchen Sink auteur has placed three Jury Prize-winning films in 90’s Hidden Agenda, 93’s Raining Stones and 2012’s The Angels’ Share along with Palme d’Or winning The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006) and I, Daniel Blake (2016). Of course, we can’t forget the Critics Week selected Kes. The Old Oak was the last of the twenty films in comp.

This sounds a bit familiar. A pub landlord in a previously thriving mining community struggles to hold onto his pub.…...

The 1970 edition of the Cannes Film Festival was noted for giving rise to several bold new voices. Robert Altman arrived as an established (and notoriously troublesome) TV director but left a Palme d’Or winner with M*A*S*H, his launchpad to becoming one of the most pivotal figures of contemporary cinema. In the Directors’ Fortnight competition, then a year old, the German absurdist comedy Even Dwarfs Started Small gave audiences a hint of what a 20-something festival first-timer named Werner Herzog might have up his creative sleeve.

Over in the Critics’ Week sidebar, a rising English director named Ken Loach also was making his Cannes debut (like Herzog with his second feature).

The bespectacled 33-year-old had arrived as part of what he describes as a “rather snooty” U.K. delegation that didn’t have much time for someone then known for hard-hitting TV docudramas and not considered part...

Ken Loach has said that The Old Oak, his latest feature, will be his last. Probably.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter ahead of what will mark his 15th film premiering at the Cannes Film Festival, the veteran filmmaker, who turns 87 in June, acknowledged that “realistically, it would be hard to do a feature film again.

“Films take a couple of years and I’ll be nearly 90,” he said. “And your facilities do decline. Your short-term memory goes and my eyesight is pretty rubbish now, so it’s quite tricky.”

Loach said that while he had little issue on The Old Oak dealing with the physical demands of long working days required during production, it has become harder to sustain, “with good humor,” the “nervous emotional energy” he needs to set the tempo during a shoot and to keep that momentum going.

Loach, of course, has “retired” before. When he brought...

Veteran director talks latest film ‘Sorry We Missed You’.

The UK release date for Ken Loach’s Sorry We Missed You falls portentously on November 1 - that’s to say the day after Brexit (if it happens).

The 83-year-old UK director, who is a guest of honour at Filmfest Hamburg this week, is phlegmatic about the film coming out on such a day.

“I hope it doesn’t make any difference, I don’t think it means we are all going to be on the streets on November the first,” says Loach. “I guess people will have time to go to the cinema as well.

Sorry We Missed You

One of Britain’s most notable filmmakers of all time, the two-time Palme d’Or winning Ken Loach will be set with his new social issue drama Sorry We Missed You in 2019. Produced by his regular collaborator Rebecca O’Brien and is the director’s fourth consecutive film handled by eOne. His latest stars Kris Hitchen (who previously had a supporting role in Loach’s 2001 title The Navigators) along with Debbie Honeywood, Katie Proctor, Alfie Dobson and Rhys Stone. As mentioned, Loach is one of a select few auteurs to win thePalme d’Or twice, having competed a total of thirteen times winning the Ecumenical Jury Prize in 1981, 1990, 1995, 2009, and 2016, a Fipresci Prize for 1991’s Riff Raff and 1979’s Black Jack, and the Jury Prize in 1993 and 2012.…...

Any list of the greatest foreign directors currently working today has to include Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. The directors first rose to prominence in the mid 1990s with efforts like “The Promise” and “Rosetta,” and they’ve continued to excel in the 21st century with titles such as “The Kid With A Bike” and “Two Days One Night,” which earned Marion Cotillard a Best Actress Oscar nomination.

Read MoreThe Dardenne Brothers’ Next Film Will Be a Terrorism Drama

The directors will be back in U.S. theaters with the release of “The Unknown Girl” on September 8, which is a long time coming considering the film first premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016. While you continue to wait for their new movie, the brothers have provided their definitive list of 79 movies from the 20th century that you must see. La Cinetek published the list in full and is hosting many...

Shortly before news broke of British auteur Ken Loach’s latest production (a surprise since his 2014 title Jimmy’s Hall was intended to be his last film) his 1990 film Hidden Agenda received a Blu-ray release. An interesting footnote in Loach’s extensive filmography, the film is a definite departure from a director whose work is usually invested in portraits of British Socialist realism. Sandwiched between 1986’s Fatherland (a co-production with West Germany, also seeing a Blu-ray release this November courtesy of Twilight Time) and 1991’s Riff-Raff, Loach tried his hand at a political thriller based on actual events. It took home the Jury Prize at that year’s Cannes Film Festival (of the many times Loach has competed for the Palme d’Or, he’s won this particular distinction three times, and the Palme itself in 2006) and caused a significant furor in the UK thanks to its blunt references to...

Twilight Time is celebrating its 4th anniversary with a major promotion that sees some of their limited edition titles reduced in price through April 3. These are the titles on sale.

Group 1

Retail price point: $24.95

Picnic

Pal Joey

Bite The Bullet

Bell, Book, And Candle

Bye Bye Birdie

In Like Flint

Major Dundee

The Blue Max

Crimes And Misdemeanors

Used Cars

Thunderbirds Are Go / Thunderbird 6

Group 2

Retail price point: $19.95

Rapture

Roots Of Heaven

Swamp Water

Demetrius And The Gladiators

Desiree

The Wayward Bus

Cover Girl

High Time

The Sound And The Fury

The Rains Of Ranchipur

Bonjour Tristesse

Beloved Infidel

Lost Horizon

The Blue Lagoon

Experiment In Terror

Nicholas And Alexandra

Pony Soldier

The Song Of Bernadette

Philadelphia

The Only Game In Town

Love Is A Many Splendored Thing

Sleepless In Seattle

The Disappearance

Sexy Beast

Drums Along The Mohawk

Alamo Bay

The Other

Mindwarp

Jane Eyre

Oliver

The Way We Were...

Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Aug. 12, 2014

Price: Blu-ray $29.95

Studio: Twilight Time

Robert Carlyle stars in Ken Loach's 1991 Riff-Raff.

Two gems from the great English realist auteur Ken Loach—the 1991 comedy Riff-Raff and the 1993 comedy-drama Raining Stones—make their Blu-ray debuts from Twilight Time.

Riff-Raff, Loach’s first comedy, concerns a gang of itinerant construction workers (including Trainspotting’s Robert Carlyle) laboring under unspeakable conditions on luxury homes for London’s wealthy. Raining Stones, a Jury Prize-winner at the Cannes Film Festival, is about an earnest man (Bruce Jones) driven to desperate measures in an effort to buy his daughter a First Communion dress.

Both films feature scores by Stewart Copeland, which are offered on an isolated music and effects track.

As supplier Twilight Time prints up only 3,000 copies of each title, the time to order your Blu-ray discs directly from distributor Screen Archives is Now!

Welcome back to Cannes Check, In Contention's annual preview of the films in Competition at this year's Cannes Film Festival, which kicks off on May 14. Taking on different selections every day, we'll be examining what they're about, who's involved and what their chances are of snagging an award from Jane Campion's jury. Next up, the lineup's second Palme d'Or-winning British stalwart: Ken Loach's "Jimmy's Hall." The director: Ken Loach (British, 77 years old). Often labelled the father of British social realism on film, Ken Loach is as famed for the no-nonsense naturalism of his aesthetic as for his defiantly socialist politics -- evident to varying degrees in 26 cinematic features (narrative and documentary) over 47 years. A lower-middle-class grammar school student turned Oxford law graduate, Loach began his career in television, directing a series of socially conscious BBC teleplays -- most famously the homelessness study "Cathy Come Home" -- before making his first feature film,...

Whether or not it turns out to be Ken Loach's final narrative film, Jimmy's Hall (2014) looks like being a favourite when it lands on the Croisette in competition at this year's 67th Cannes Film Festival. Cannes has commonly been a home from home for British director Loach where - despite the glam, the frocks and the yachts - this master of social realist and politically committed cinema has consistently scored successes. He's taken the Jury Prize on three different occasions with Hidden Agenda in 1990, Raining Stones in 1993 and The Angels' Share in 2012. In 2006, Loach even took the prestigious Palme d'Or for his brilliantly stirring portrayal of early twentieth century Irish history in The Wind that Shakes the Barley. With Jimmy's Hall, the director returns to similar territory - here's the film's official synopsis.

Jimmy's Hall, directed by Loach, and Leigh's Mr Turner among the 18 films selected to compete at prestigious event this year

Two of the greats of British cinema, Ken Loach and Mike Leigh, are to go head to head at this year's Cannes film festival, more than two decades since they first sparred for one of the most prestigious prizes in the film world.

The pair first competed at the premier European film festival in 1993, when Loach won the jury's prize for Raining Stones and Leigh walked away with the best director accolade for Naked.

Continue reading...

Diao Yinan’s noir Black Coal, Thin Ice (Bai Ri Yan Huo) took the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in a triumphant night for Chinese cinema.

Accepting the award, Diao Yinan said: “It’s really hard to believe this dream has come true.”

The China-Hong Kong film also scooped the Silver Bear for best actor for Liao Fan, while cinematographer Zeng Jian earned a Silver Bear for outstanding artistic contribution for the China-France entry Blind Massage.

Wes Anderson’s festival opener The Grand Budapest Hotel finished runner-up in the Competition awards with the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize.

The Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize went to Alain Resnais’ Life Of Riley (Aimer, Boire Et Chanter) and Richard Linklater scooped the Silver Bear for best director for Boyhood, winner of the Screen International jury.

Haru Kuroki won the Silver Bear for best actress for The Little House (Japan), while Dietrich and Anna Brüggemann earned the Silver...

Ken Loach will receive an honorary Golden Bear award at the 64th Berlin Film Festival.

The event will pay tribute to Loach's life and career in February by screening his 1993 classic Raining Stones.

Berlin Film Festival director Dieter Kosslick has called Loach "one of Europe's great directors".

Kosslick went on to say: "Over his almost 50-year career, he has shown an extraordinary degree of continuity, while remaining innovative at all times. His profound interest in people and their individual fates, as well as his critical commitment to society have found expression in a variety of cinematic approaches.

"We are honouring Ken Loach as a director and greatly admire him for how he reflects on social injustices with humour in his films."

The 64th Berlin Film Festival will be held from February 6 to February 16.

Loach has directed many critically-acclaimed films throughout his career, including Cathy Home, Riff-Raff, The Angels' Share and Route Irish.

Homage to the British filmmakers work to feature at the festival in February, where he will receive an honorary Golden Bear.

British director Ken Loach is to be awarded the Honorary Golden Bear for lifetime achievement at the 64th Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 6-16).

The award ceremony will be accompanied by a screening of Raining Stones, Loach’s film about a man who makes disastrous choices in trying to raise the money for his daughter’s first Communion dress. It won the jury prize at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival.

Berlin will also host a homage to Loach’s work, including 1966 TV drama Cathy Come Home, about a young mother who becomes homeless after her husband loses his job.

It was seen by 12 million people on its first broadcast - a quarter of the UK population - and is regularly cited as one of the best, most influential British TV dramas and led to the setting up of the...

Exclusive: Jimmy’s Hall, which has begun shooting in Ireland, is likely to be Ken Loach’s last narrative feature - but he will continue to direct documentaries.

Ken Loach’s upcoming drama, Jimmy’s Hall, will likely be his last, according to regular producer Rebecca O’Brien.

“This is probably the last narrative feature for Ken,” O’Brien told ScreenDaily. “There are a few documentary ideas kicking around, and that will probably be the way to go, but this is a serious period-drama with a lot of moving parts so it’s a big thing to put together. I think we should go out while we’re on top.”

O’Brien, who has produced more than a dozen features with Loach since 1990, said that the 77 year-old director is likely to continue to make documentaries and TV work but that he is “unlikely” to make another narrative feature.

“It’s such a huge operation and Ken doesn...

Exclusive: Jimmy’s Hall, which has begun shooting in Ireland, is likely to be Ken Loach’s last narrative feature - but he will continue to direct documentaries.

Ken Loach’s upcoming drama, Jimmy’s Hall, will likely be his last, according to regular producer Rebecca O’Brien.

“This is probably the last narrative feature for Ken,” O’Brien told ScreenDaily. “There are a few documentary ideas kicking around, and that will probably be the way to go, but this is a serious period-drama with a lot of interconnecting elements so it’s a big thing to put together. I think we should go out while we’re on top.”

O’Brien, who has produced more than a dozen features with Loach since 1990, said that the 77 year-old director is likely to continue to make documentaries and TV work but that he is “unlikely” to make another narrative feature.

“It’s such a huge operation and Ken doesn...

In Clandestine Childhood (Infancia Clandestina), writer/director Benjamín Ávila drew inspiration from his personal exiled childhood during Argentina's Dirty War as the son of two Montoneros guerillas. The film, which took prizes at both San Sebastian and Havana Film Festivals last year, is set in 1979 during the family's return from Cuba to fight in the Montoneros counteroffensive operation under new assumed identities. Benjamín spoke to LatinoBuzz about what it meant to see memories from his formative years unfold on the big screen.

Clandestine Childhood is being released in NY and CA on Friday, January 11th, 2013.

LatinoBuzz: What did the actors take away from spending several days with former Montoneros?

Benjamín Ávila: I wanted the actors to have the chance to physically live that era. The most complex challenge for an actor is the ability to give dimension to the story from the time that it happened, not from the present. For them it was important to get rid of all the Whys and be able to answer them by themselves. So I decided to have the actors meet a couple of former guerrilla members to do a training drill for two days, the way it was done back then, as well as for them to have a chance to talk and for the actors to be able to ask anything they wanted.

It was very productive because their body changed, as well as their stand before history. It also helped me to confirm some doubts that had arisen during the process of writing the script. And from that moment on, the improvisations we did were very important in defining some scenes of the film. Particularly the argument scene between the grandmother and mother. That improvisation came after the work we did, and some glorious moments emerged as a result, very complex and incorrect that served to give another dimension to the movie.

LatinoBuzz: Was there a particular audience for this film that was most important for you to see it?

Benjamín Ávila: Not really. But firstly, it is a film that I made for my brothers. And for the children of the disappeared and those killed during the last dictatorship in Argentina. They are the primary audience, but the story is not constructed so that only they understand. On the contrary, I wanted the film to move people, to it would provoke feelings and ideas, without sacrificing the cinematic and artistic construction. Luckily, for all the feedback that I receive from the people who have seen it, I think we have achieved that goal. It's a film that provokes many emotions, that endures for days within the people who see it, and that generates the need to reiterate the questions that were supposedly already answered.

LatinoBuzz: When was the first time you realized that 'Infancia Clandestina' was the story you had to tell?

Benjamín Ávila: I always knew it. Since I was 13, I knew I wanted to work in film. I also knew back then that one day I would film my childhood. Somehow I made a tacit commitment at that time with myself, with my family, and with my own story. Therefore it is very important for me to have completed this process. It is a feeling of a debt paid, like I "had to do" this film. It was a duty rather than a necessity. Now that the film is finished I feel a relief, that of mission accomplished. Now I can be at peace.

LatinoBuzz: How much of what was going on were you very much aware of and how did you process that as a young boy?

Benjamín Ávila: My older brother and I were very aware, even though we were 7 and 8 years old at the time. I always think we were like the kids living in the street, who have a very conscious relationship with their environment. We knew what was happening, what we could and could not say. Although we were doing and saying what we were living, we could not have a dialectical discussion nor a real argument. We understood it all.

For us what we lived was not anything special, but it was normal. It was our life. We could not imagine anything different. This is why we were never traumatized. Even nowadays I miss that lifestyle. That clear and powerful bonding we all had. What was traumatizing was everything else: the absence, the persecution, the disappearance of my mother and not knowing anything to this day, not having been raised with my younger brother (Vicky in the movie). It was not until three yeas ago that we started having a life of ordinary siblings. And it cost a lot to have it...

LatinoBuzz: You were a child of Montoneros, so your childhood was unlike many others yet in the film we largely see this sweet portrayal of this blossoming first love between Juan and Maria –just like any teenager experiences. How much of that was Benjamín wishing that childhood was that innocent?

Benjamín Ávila: What you need to understand is that living in hiding was not something different to normality. It had parameters that were unusual, but we lived them like any other, even inside the house. I remember many common and normal family moments. Like waking up too late at night to watch the matches of the national team playing the World Cup youth soccer, Maradona’s first in Japan, and the matches were at 4 or 6 am. I remember going out at 7am in the morning with all the neighbors to celebrate the championship. My mother chastising me because I was late for school, or because I hadn't made my bed. Family barbecues, like any other Sunday, and so on, thousands of memories as normal as any other.

LatinoBuzz: What happened to “María”?

Benjamín Ávila: Maria never existed at that time. I had my Marías, but in other places and other times!

LatinoBuzz: In writing such a personal story what was the hardest thing to

write and did you avoid anything?

Benjamín Ávila: The most difficult part was at the beginning, trying to detach myself from my own history. Because several things were clear to me: the subject of film, that I did not want to be the protagonist of the story, that the most important part was the reconstruction of a routine

that has never been shown but that was not only mine but of many. That's why I took anecdotes and stories from others... Writing the script with Marcelo Muller, a dear Brazilian friend, helped me to achieve that distance I wanted for the construction of the story. With him I was able to rule out what wasn't important to the film’s story even if it was personally very important to me, and so we achieved that distance even though I deepened what remained. It was as if Marcelo pulled out to keep it to the essential, and I pulled inwards to deepen what remained.

LatinoBuzz: Was the casting difficult? Were you looking for yourself in

the Actor?

Benjamín Ávila: The casting of the children was complicated. We did it with María Laura Berch, an incredible casting director specializing in children, and we elaborated a very clear, yet complex, strategy. We saw over 700 children in total for all the roles, and it took us three months as planned.

But most importantly, we wanted to cast very homely, to give the kids the idea of what the shooting was going to be right from the beginning. And as I do my own camerawork every time I film, I decided I was going to shoot the casting so the kids could get used to my presence close to them and behind the camera from the beginning. And it worked really well.

With the adults it was very different. I saw Ernesto Alterio in the TV series "Vientos de Agua" by Campanella miniseries and compared to other roles I've seen him perform, I found the construction of his character wonderful. Something similar happened with Natalia Oreiro, she is very famous in Argentina but because of roles in comedies or romantic comedies, but seeing her in Caetano's "Francia" I noticed a dramatic profile in which I was very interested. With Cesar Troncoso, he was recommended by Luis Puenzo who had worked with him in "Xxy" the film he produced, directed by his daughter Lucía Puenzo. I had seen him in "The Pope's Toilet" and I had loved his role. And it was always a dream that Cristina Banegas play the role of the grandmother, and luckily we did it!

LatinoBuzz: Was seeing the film for the first time like looking at

photographs of your childhood?

Benjamín Ávila: No, this film has a lot of traits that belong to my childhood but they're for the most part, changed or modified. What does happen to me, is that I see through them my own memories. That happens to me, but it's something very intimate. The photos that appear at the end, which are from my family in reality, is the moment that moves me the most as I get haunted by the echoes of that wonderful past that was destroyed at the moment portrayed by the film.

My production company is called Room 1520 in tribute to the last scene of Paris, Texas by Wim Wenders, where the young kid (Hunter) is reunited with his mother after a long time in that same room... My childhood accompanies much of what I do.

LatinoBuzz: How many details from set design and wardrobe to how the actors who played your parents looked and acted did you involve yourself or were you able to separate yourself?

Benjamín Ávila: The shooting process was very intimate, intense and emotional. All of the staff, technicians and actors, we were involved in a special way. I have a way of working which at first puzzled the team. I like getting carried away by what is happening and then decide each scene based on the actors, the set and the light.

I operate the camera, I always do it when I'm the director, and I like to approach it as a documentary, finding the images based on what happens, as it happens. In that sense, each take was a particular universe of its own, unique and not replicable. Of course some takes came out really bad. But others were magical ... and those are the ones remained.

On the third day of filming something happened that made the whole team realize the scope of what we were doing, and from that moment on, everybody trusted my working technique. It happened that we were shooting Juan's (played by Teo Gutiérrez Moreno) first sequence where he burns the photos, near the end of the film. A tough sequence due to the mood that Juan had to reflect (as he just learns that his father was killed and had just hopelessly cried with his mother), and with children you don't work from a rational place but rather from the body directly, something very natural to them. So, I asked Natalia Oreiro to stand off-screen next to me, and that at moment I said 'action', for her to scream inconsolably, begging for help. On the other hand I told Teo that regardless of whatever was happening, he should not take his eyes off the fire, and that he should run out when I called his name. We got ready and at the moment of saying 'action' Natalia started to scream, heart wrenching, and all that I wanted to happen to Teo, started happening to me with the camera on my shoulder. I began to cry inconsolably (if you look carefully at the scene, the camera moves because I'm crying), as if it was an ancestral cry from some other time, and at some point I yelled at Teo and he perfectly did what he had to do, as usual, an he ran. I said 'cut', gave the camera to my assistant and as I was leaving I saw Natalia crying uncontrollably, everyone saw me and realized I was crying. I went to the video assist and as I entered everybody was very excited, they saw me crying. I asked to see the take… At that moment, everybody including actors, technicians and me, realized that we were doing something more than professional, but also very personal.

LatinoBuzz: Were there any films that influenced the look of the film?

Benjamín Ávila: Absolutely. For the tone of the performance and the gaze of the kids, "My Life as a Dog" by Lasse Halstrom. All of Krystof Kieslowski's filmography, and the political view of the films that Ken Loach made in

England such as "Raining Stones", "Riff-Raff" and "Hidden Agenda".

LatinoBuzz: What's the next project?

Benjamín Ávila: I am writing for a TV series of 40 single chapters. Additionally, I am adapting a novel by Elsa Osorio that I've been wanting to do for 12 years. I'm adapting it with her to make a miniseries of 13 chapters. It's about 40 years of history and involves many characters. A different look at the people who survived or were involved in Argentina's dictatorship.

For Screening times in NY and CA visit: http://www.filmmovement.com/theatrical/index.asp?MerchandiseID=314

Like em at: https://www.facebook.com/Infancia.clandestina

Written by Juan Caceres and Vanessa Erazo, LatinoBuzz is a weekly feature on SydneysBuzz that highlights Latino indie talent and upcoming trends in Latino film with the specific objective of presenting a broad range of Latino voices. Follow @LatinoBuzz on twitter.

Ken Loach has always had a flair for comedy. Whether it's the football match in Kes (one of Brian Glover's finest moments) or Ricky Tomlinson trying to catch a sheep in Raining Stones or Peter Mullan up to mischief in My Name Is Joe, his work abounds in lively, comic business. However, the humour is invariably counterbalanced by bleakness.

Carlos Reygadas‘ Post Tenebras Lux Cannes 2012 Winners Pt.1: Michael Haneke’s Amour, Matteo Garrone’s Reality, Cristian Mungiu’s Beyond The Hills The Best Actor was Mads Mikkelsen, who late last year received the European Film Award for European Achievement in World Cinema. (Among Mikkelsen’s future World Cinema "achievements" may be one of the villainous roles in Thor 2.) Mikkelsen’s Cannes victory was for his performance as a man (falsely) accused of sexually molesting a child — and the inevitable hysteria that ensues — in Thomas Vinterberg’s Danish psychological drama The Hunt. Carlos Reygadas cosmically surrealist family drama, Post Tenebras Lux ("Light After Darkness") earned the Mexican filmmaker the Best Director Award. In 2007, Reygadas’ Silent Night tied with Persepolis for the Jury Prize. And just a few days ago, Post Tenebras Lux was greeted by loud boos. And finally, the socially conscious British filmmaker Ken Loach won the...

Ken Loach's new film The Angels' Share is one of the big contenders at Cannes. Will its star – Glaswegian binman Gary Maitland – finally give up the day job?

Like many people, Gary Maitland juggles two jobs. For both, he must wake at 6.30am. But it's only when he's working as a movie star that he gets chauffeur-driven to work. South Lanarkshire council does not, as yet, extend this service to its binmen.

The Glaswegian's days of merely moonlighting on the big screen – he has already appeared in two Ken Loach films – look to be drawing to a close, though. This week, he will emerge into the limelight: his latest collaboration with Loach, The Angels' Share, is in competition at the Cannes film festival, and he will be there to promote it.

Maitland has been to France before, travelling through by coach to see Rangers play in the Netherlands. This...

Part of our Oscar 2010 coverage.

Leading up to the Oscars on March 7, we will be highlighting the nominated films that have appeared in the magazine or on the Website in the last year. Scott Macaulay interviewed The Hurt Locker cinematographer Barry Ackroyd for our Spring 2009 issue. The Hurt Locker is nominated for Best Picture, Best Director (Kathryn Bigelow), Best Actor (Jeremy Renner), Original Screenplay (Mark Boal), Best Cinematography (Ackroyd), Best Editing (Bob Murawski and Chris Innis), Best Original Score (Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders), Best Sound Editing (Paul N.J. Ottosson) and Best Sound Mixing (Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett).

Cinematographer Barry Ackroyd has shot almost 50 features with numerous directors, but when it comes time to discuss his work on Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker, his collaborations with two other helmers need to be referenced. The first is Ken Loach, the director Ackroyd is most associated with. The Manchester,...

Masterclass: Barry Ackroyd

“The most peaceful place you can be on a film set is when you put your eye to the camera.”

On Monday night at the BFI, British cinematographer Barry Ackroyd talked to Screen International Editor Mike Goodridge about his 30 years in film and TV. It’s a shame there wasn’t a full house in NFT3 and that I had to sit at an uncomfortable 45-degree angle to see the discussion. The good news was that Ackroyd’s eloquence matches his skills behind the camera and he sounded like a poet as he alluded to the “flow” of his work.

If there’s one word you probably wouldn’t use in association with Ackroyd’s recent films it’s peaceful. This is the guy who shot Ralph Fiennes’s Balkan-set Coriolanus, Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker and United 93. Given his talent for depicting war zones,...

Ken Loach brings the horrors of the war in Iraq back home to Liverpool in this gripping conspiracy thriller

All films are political, though most unconsciously so. Along with a handful of others (one thinks of the great Soviet directors of the 1920s, of the Italians Francesco Rosi and Gillo Pontecorvo, of the American John Sayles), Ken Loach is that relatively rare figure, the consciously political film-maker. Only the occasional Loach film lacks some well-considered left-wing agenda, and Route Irish, his response to the war in Iraq, takes up themes he has pursued on several occasions, including crimes committed in the name of the state, the brutalisation of militarism, the exploitation of the demoralised unemployed and the thoughtless ill-treatment of native populations.

Scripted by his regular screenwriter Paul Laverty, Route Irish is a characteristic Loach film, a gripping conspiracy thriller not unlike Hidden Agenda, his film on the Troubles. Quite...

With movies like Riff-Raff, Raining Stones, and Ladybird Ladybird in the early ’90s, British director Ken Loach carved out a distinctive niche by fusing social realism with human comedy, adding a spoonful of sugar to make his class politics go down. Later in the decade, imitators like The Full Monty, Waking Ned Devine, and Billy Elliot found great commercial success in scaling back the politics while keeping the working-class backdrops more or less intact; at their worst, they suffered a serious case of the cutes. Now everything has come full circle: Following a run of serious dramas like The Wind ...

The oddsmakers might want to reconsider the Cannes Film Festival competition after the jury just added Ken Loach's Route Irish to the roster: a lot of Cannes Festival prizes have been routed to the filmmaker. He has been nominated for the Golden Palm nine times, and won in 2006 for The Wind That Shakes the Barley. He has won 10 other Cannes awards during his career, including two Jury Prizes--for Raining Stones and Hidden Agenda--and one for his body of work. His latest film focuses on two former soldiers, in love with the same woman, who hire on as contractors [...]...

By Sharon Waxman

The crowd cheered and clapped at 10 in the morning on Monday for a feel-good film from one of the most earnest and unflinching directors on the block, Ken Loach.

The cerebral, diminutive Loach often makes his films in the world of the British working class. He likes to focus on the forgotten man, the broken spirit, the individual lost in the harsh demands of modern society, from “Raining Stones,” to “My Nam...