Honorary Doctorate
Ken Loach, film director, who has twice been honored with the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the Department of Social Work of the University of West Attica for his contribution to the social sciences and Social Work.
The ceremony took place at an event at the Greek embassy in London, on Friday 26/11/2021, as the director was unable to travel to Athens due to the pandemic.
Ken Loach is an English director, born in 1936 in Nuneaton, Central England. He studied Law in Oxford, where he became involved in theatre as a student. He first worked in British television (BBC) and then he directed his attention to the cinema.
His works are considered as pioneering and masterpieces of social realism. The films and documentaries he has directed explore issues related to structural social problems, such as the consequences of poverty, punitive bureaucracy and racism. Ken Loach’s heroes are everyday people, who face the complexity of life and the contradictions of state institutions with stoicism and empathy. Through everyday stories, the need for solidarity as well as the strength of humanism of everyday people are highlighted.
It is widely acknowledged that Ken Loach’s films, which have remained socially relevant over time, have been able to raise public awareness on these issues. His first film, Poor Cow (1967), focuses on the experiences of a working-class woman, who is confronted with the justice system and social services. Since then, the often-controversial nature of social services has continued to be a key element of his filmography.
In the 1960s, Loach directed a number of stand-alone TV movies for the BBC television anthology, ‘The Wednesday Play’. One of these films, ‘Cathy Come Home’ (1966), captures the tragedy of unemployment and homelessness, following the experiences of a working-class family in post-war England. The film created a sensation among the public, at a time when British society was living under the illusion that poverty had been eradicated. ‘Cathy Come Home’ is considered the second best TV movie across time in the UK (ranked by the British Film Institute).
Loach’s next film, ‘Kes’ (1970), narrates the experiences of a boy, who was abused both at home and school, and seeks hope in everyday life small moments. The film received rave reviews, including a nomination for the Best Picture at the British Academy Film Awards.
Loach, throughout time, continued to focus critically on the institutions and organization of society. The TV movie ‘Which Side Are you On?’ (1984) described the lives of miners in the North of England in a realistic and humane way, at a time when violent deindustrialisation was threatening the existence of entire communities that had historically developed close to the coal mines. With ‘Hidden Agenda’ (1990), a political thriller set in divided Northern Ireland, the director won the Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize. Loach’s next two films, while still based on the everyday realities of the British working class, were enriched with an element of humor and ingenuity of heroes. Until recently, Loach’s work continued to insist on defending people experiencing social exclusion, revealing their difficulties, sources of hope, and struggles.
Loach is highly politicized and active in social movements, fact that is evidenced in his films, which function as a magnifying glass of the relationship and interaction of individual problems, social problems and the structural oppressive elements of the organization of society. Despite the apparent pessimism, Loach’s films focus on the need for social change, as himself stated receiving the Palme d’Or of Cannes for the film “I, Daniel Blake”: “We have to convey a message of hope. We have to say that ‘another world is possible’ “.
His work has been honored numerous times. He has won the Palme d’Or twice. The first won was in 2006 for the movie “The Wind That Shakes the Barley” and the second in 2016 for the movie “I, Daniel Blake”. He has also won the European Film Award twice, in 1991 with ‘Riff-Raff’ and in 1995 with ‘Land and Freedom’. He has also received honorary degrees from several universities including the University of York, Free University of Brussels, Sheffield Hallam University, Liverpool Hope University and Bath Spa university.
Filmography
- 1967 Poor Cow
- 1969 Kes
- 1971 Family Life
- 1979 Black Jack
- 1980 The Gamekeeper
- 1981 Looks and Smiles
- 1986 Fatherland
- 1990 Hidden Agenda
- 1991 Riff-Raff
- 1993 Raining Stones
- 1994 Ladybird, Ladybird
- 1995 Land and Freedom
- 1996 Carla’s Song
- 1998 My Name is Joe
- 2000 Bread and Roses
- 2001 The Navigators
- 2002 Sweet Sixteen
- 2002 Eleven Minutes, Nine Seconds, One Image: September 11
- 2004 Ae Fond Kiss
- 2005 Tickets
- 2006 The Wind that Shakes the Barley
- 2007 To Each His Own Cinema
- 2007 It’s a Free World
- 2009 Looking for Eric
- 2010 Route Irish
- 2012 Catastroika
- 2013 The Spirit of ’45
- 2014 Jimmy’s Hall
- 2016 I, Daniel Blake
- 2019 Sorry we missed you