Posted on Tuesday, 19th July 2011 by Sean Permewan
Ken Loach on the set for “Looking for Eric.” Image courtesy of IFC Films.
Ken Loach is celebrating his 75th birthday party in style, with a comprehensive retrospective of his work hosted by the British Film Institute that includes the long-banned documentary he produced for Save the Children charity in 1969.
It sounds surrealbanning a doc that he produced for a kids charity?but the film never aired on London Weekend Television as intended. The Guardian explains:
The reasons for the ban remain obscure. It seems to have had something to do with the directors pugnacious take on race, class and charity in a capitalist society, or perhaps the quotation from Engels that prefaced what was supposed to be a celebration of the charitys 50th anniversary.
Our moneys on the Engels. Radical politics dominate much of Loachs filmography, particularly the portion of it made during this early stage of his career. The film was made just three years after his TV debut, Cathy Come Home, which remains a fierce indictment of lower class persecution to this day (watch it on Loachs official YouTube channel).
The BFIs recognition is hardly the first major honor the British director has received over the course of his diverse career, which stretches back to TV productions in the early 60s and arguably culminated with the Palme dOr awarded to The Wind that Shakes the Barley in 2006. But this one not only acknowledges Loachs output; it fills in the gaps.
Cathy and the rest of Loachs films will screen at the BFI for two months beginning in September. The Save the Children documentary screens on September 1.
Tags: Ken, Ken Loachs
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