Born into a humble, working class family in Nuneaton in 1936, Ken Loach worked hard to get to where he is today, from releasing his first television series Z-Cars, to working with the then head of the Labour party, Jeremy Corbyn, to releasing a social-realist film, I, Daniel Blake, an important message against austerity in Europe.
Ken Loach is known for his particular style of films, choosing to portray the conditions of the impoverished parts of countries, with the intention of giving a voice to those persecuted or oppressed.
This was very apparent in his film I, Daniel Blake, which touched on the difficulties in deprived working class communities in England.
- Ken Loach is a revered director and he has won two Palme d'or awards for his films, The Wind That Shakes the Barley and I, Daniel Blake.
The Wind That Shakes the Barley, set during the Irish War of Independence earnt a total of 25.7 million dollars in the US box office, from a budget of $8.3 million dollars demonstrating Ken Loach's competence at doing well despite directing arthouse films.
Looking for Eric (2009)- How Ken Loach manages to produce his films with such low budgets.
Looking for Eric is a prime example of a film that has a low budget but its creativity and innovativeness enables it to be such a successful film, earning 11,55 million USD in the box office. This demonstrates that despite having a low budget, a film does not solely rely on its budget and though it may rarely be able to compete with the large, blockbuster films, the profit of the film showcases its successes. Looking for Eric was funded by three film production companies, Wild Bunch, Film4 Productions and Tornasol Films. Ken Loach films are typically financed by multiple companies, based in different European countries, in this case it is a French company that partly funded his film. The individual investment compared, is quite small but these companies recognise that Ken Loach is an example of how a renowned director, a director respected and heavily-experienced in the media industry can bring attention to a film. Having just turned eighty-five, Loach has been able to build up a set of loyal fans who love his social-realistic films that tackle directly or indirectly the deep problems in our society such as austerity, racism and unemployment; and the companies know that Ken Loach, though he will never direct a blockbuster, his filmmaking skills usually enables him large numbers in gross profit. If he only had one company funding him, and it turned out to be a let down, that would be a very big risk.
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