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), labour rights (Riff-Raff, 1991; The Navigators, 2001), and revolutionary struggle (Land and Freedom, 1995; The Wind That Shakes the Barley, 2006). 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.

Filmography

• 2026Forgotten Spaceman — Executive Producer
• 2025Palestine 36 — Thanks
• 2024The Bad Patriots
• 2024Uomini in Marcia
• 2023Oh Jeremy Corbyn - The Big Lie — (himself)
• 2023The Old Oak — Director
• 2022C'era una volta in Italia - Giacarta sta arrivando — Sé stesso
• 2019Sorry We Missed You — Director
• 2018The Dream Palace: A People's History of Tyneside Cinema
• 2016I, Daniel Blake — Director
• 2016In Conversation With Jeremy Corbyn — Director, Writer, Producer
• 2014Idyll — Writer
• 2014Jimmy's Hall — Director
• 2013The Spirit of '45 — Director, Writer
• 2012The Angels' Share — Director
• 2011Route Irish — Director
• 2009Looking for Eric — Director
• British Film Forever
• 2007It's a Free World... — Director, Producer
• 2007To Each His Own Cinema — Director
• 2006Carry On Ken
• Carry On Ken
• 2006The Wind That Shakes the Barley — Director
• 2005McLibel — Director
• 2005Tickets — Director
• 2004Ae Fond Kiss... — Director
• 2002September 11 — Director, Writer
• 2002Sweet Sixteen — Director
• 2001The Navigators — Director
• 2000Bread and Roses — Director
• 1999The Limey — Thanks
• 1998Another City: A Week in the Life of Bath's Football Club — Director
• 1998My Name Is Joe — Director
• 1996Carla's Song — Director
• 1996The Flickering Flame — Director, Screenplay
• 1995A Contemporary Case for Common Ownership — Director
• 1995Land and Freedom — Director
• Modern Times — Director
• 1994Ladybird Ladybird — Director
• 1993Raining Stones — Director
• 1991Riff-Raff — Director
• 1991The Arthur Legend — Director
• 1990Hidden Agenda — Director
• 1989The View from the Woodpile — Director, Producer
• 1989Time to Go — Director
• Dispatches — Director
• 1986Fatherland — Director
• Split Screen — Director
• 1985End of the Battle... Not the End of the War — Director
• Television
• 1985Which Side Are You On? — Director, Producer
• 1983The Red and the Blue — Director
• 1981A Question of Leadership — Producer, Director
• 1981Looks and Smiles — Director
• 1980Auditions — Producer, Director
• 1980The Gamekeeper — Director, Writer
• 1979Black Jack — Director, Writer
• The South Bank Show
• 1977The Price of Coal, Part 1: Meet the People — Director
• 1977The Price of Coal, Part 2: Back to Reality — Director
• Days of Hope — Director, Creator
• Full House — Director, Writer
• 1972Right to Work March
• 1971Family Life — Director
• 1971Talk About Work — Director
• 1971The Rank and File — Director
• 1971The Save the Children Fund Film — Director
• 1970Kes — Director, Screenplay
• Play for Today — Director
• ITV Saturday Night Theatre — Director
• 1969The Big Flame — Director
• 1968The Golden Vision — Director
• 1967In Two Minds — Director
• 1967Poor Cow — Director, Screenplay
• 1966Cathy Come Home — Director
• 1965A Tap on the Shoulder — Director
• 1965The Coming Out Party — Director
• 1965The End of Arthur's Marriage — Director
• 1965Three Clear Sundays — Director
• 1965Up the Junction — Director
• 1965Wear a Very Big Hat — Director
• Diary of a Young Man — Director
• The Wednesday Play — Director, Writer
• Teletale — Director
• Z-Cars — Director

Appearances as themselves (46)

• Jane Austen: Rise of a Genius — Self
• 2025The Legend of the Palme d’Or Continues — Self
• 2024Censoring Palestine — Self
• 2024Loach vs Corbyn: The Bad Patriots — HIMSELF
• 2023Cannes Uncut — Self
• Faut Voir - L'Hebdo cinéma — Self - Guest
• 2023I Get Knocked Down — Self
• 2023Ken Loach, le vent de la révolte — Self
• 2022Film: The Living Record of Our Memory — Self
• Reel Britannia — Self
• 2022Thatcher's Not Dead — Self
• 2021A Bolsa ou a Vida — Self
• 2021Once upon a time... "I, Daniel Blake" — himself
• 2020Drama Out of a Crisis: A Celebration of Play for Today — Self – Director
• Victoria Wood: The Secret List — Self
• 2019Greg Davies: Looking for Kes — Self
• 2019The Great NHS Heist — Himself
• 2018CzechMate: In Search of Jiří Menzel — Self
• 2018Who Killed British Cinema? — Self
• 2017Water and Sugar – Carlo Di Palma: The Colours of Life — Self
• 2016How to Make a Ken Loach Film — self
• John Bishop: In Conversation with... — Self
• 2016To Make a Comedy Is No Fun — Self
• 2016Versus: The Life and Films of Ken Loach — Self - Film Director
• 2015About Cinema — Self
• 2015Il était une fois... « Rosetta » — Self
• 2014We Are Many — Self
• 2012A Special Day — Self
• 2012Catastroika — Self
• 2012Jordi Dauder, la revolució pendent — Himself
• Square — Self
• The Story of Film: An Odyssey — Self
• 2010Making Kes — Self
• 2009Celuloide colectivo: el cine en guerra — Himself
• 2009Great Directors — Self
• 2009Vittorio D. — Self
• 2009What Do You Know About Me — Self
• 200840 x 15: The Forty Years of the Directors' Fortnight — Self
• 2006Making Reel History — Self
• 2001Ken and Rosa — Himself
• 1997Citizen Ken Loach — Self
• 1990The Making of 'Hidden Agenda' — Self
• 1986A Turnip Head's Guide To The British Cinema — Self
• 1985Shooting from the Heart: Chris Menges, Cameraman — Self
• Question Time — Self - Panellist
• Film '72 — Self