{"id":2554,"date":"2011-08-04T19:17:33","date_gmt":"2011-08-04T19:17:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/?p=2554"},"modified":"2011-08-05T10:51:55","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T10:51:55","slug":"indie-films-are-in-trouble-ken-loach-tells-critics-circle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/?p=2554","title":{"rendered":"Indie films are in trouble, Ken Loach tells Critics’ Circle"},"content":{"rendered":"
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From left, facing, Film critic Anna Smith, Film Section Vice-Chair; opera critic Tom Sutcliffe, Critics Circle President; filmmaker Ken Loach; film critic Jason Solomons, Film Section Chairman; also, film critic Philip French, left and Loach's film editor Jonathan Morris.<\/p><\/div>\n

By Ray Bennett<\/p>\n

British independent filmmaker Ken Loach says that independent film is under attack. The director, whose 2006 film \u201cThe Wind That Shakes the Barley\u201d won the Palme d\u2019Or at the Festival de Cannes, was presented on Thursday with the London Critics\u2019 Circle Award 2010 for distinguished service to the arts.<\/p>\n

The 75-year-old director, who is editing his latest film, \u201cThe Angels\u2019 Share\u201d, said he was grateful that critics had always been friendly even when they didn\u2019t like one of his pictures. \u201cNot everybody will like everything we do, and that\u2019s fine,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In his acceptance speech, Loach deplored the neglect of independent film and the arts in general in the UK. \u201cThe philistinism that allows us to shut down and close off these experiences for those not as fortunate as some of us have been, who have access to theater or music or film, is a tragedy. We really need to fight it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said that things were bad for independent film in the UK. \u201cThere never has been a time when things were good but I think things are closing down even more. The space for films like the ones we do \u2013 and others like us \u2013 is just shrinking. There are now huge swathes of the country where you just can\u2019t see independent films or anything that isn\u2019t mainstream American.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the pervasive view was summed up by something said by financier Guy Hands when his Terra Firma company bought Odeon Cinemas: \u201cHe said, \u2018When we bought it,’ \u2013 he talks about \u2018it\u2019, the cinema chain \u2013 ‘the management team really believed they were part of the film business. I had the difficult job of explaining to them that they were in the popcorn selling business.\u2019 That is how they see film. So when you see outside the Odeon cinemas, Love Film, or whatever the slogan is (it\u2019s actually Fanatical About Film), that is a lie. What they love is popcorn.\u201d<\/p>\n

The veteran director said that one of the problems is that the UK has politicians who see film and other art forms as simply commodities, and if the commodity doesn\u2019t make a profit then forget it.<\/p>\n

Opera critic Tom Sutcliffe, Critics\u2019 Circle President, introduced Loach to the gathering at the Piccadilly Italian Restaurant in London\u2019s Soho. He lauded the director for his fierce independence as a social realist and cited \u201cKes\u201d (1969) as a perfect example. Sutcliffe said that unlike the late Lindsay Anderson, a similar filmmaker, Loach had never become a hate figure.<\/p>\n

Film critic Jason Solomons, Film Section Chairman, presented Loach with his award, a crystal bowl, and listed the actors and filmmakers who had told him how much they had been influenced by the director, including Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney.<\/p>\n

Loach, whose genial mood in the middle of editing his current film belied his reputation for being dour, said, \u201cI feel like a poacher trapped by gamekeepers.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said that \u201cKes\u201d would not have succeeded without the help of film critics such as Derek Malcolm, then of The Guardian. \u201cGenerally, the reviews were very helpful and without that, it wouldn\u2019t have gone anywhere. The Americans said they understood Hungarian better than South Yorkshire.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sometimes, critics gave him more credit than he was due, he said. On the last day of shooting \u201cFamily Life\u201d (1971), \u201cWe had one exterior scene to do but it snowed. We didn\u2019t have any money so we had to do it. In the reviews, there were one or two who spoke at great length of the significance of the snow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Loach referred to Sutcliffe\u2019s comment that he had not become a hate figure. \u201cIf only that were true,\u201d he said, \u201cbut the hateful things have not been said by critics.\u201d He cited a Daily Mail writer who asked, \u201cWhy does this man hate his country?\u201d and one in The Daily Telegraph \u201cwho slagged off the Irish film (\u201cThe Wind That Shakes the Barley\u201d) although he had no intention of seeing it because he didn\u2019t need to read \u2018Mein Kampf\u2019 to know what a louse Hitler was\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

The best bit of ignorance displayed, he said, was by Michael Gove, minister of education in the current government. \u201cHe said the Irish film was dishonest because the Irish could always have taken the democratic route. In fact, the only time the Irish voted across the country, they voted 75% for a united independent Ireland, and the British sent in the troops. Michael Gove, the education secretary, forgot to read this bit of history, or chose not to,\u201d Loach said.<\/p>\n

He told the critics: \u201cIt is really important that we keep reminding ourselves that there is an attack on film, and you all carry the torch for good work and its availability. Thank you, I\u2019m hugely touched. It\u2019s really generous of you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The award was first presented in 1988 to theater director Peter Hall and other recipients have included Peter Ustinov, Judi Dench, Harold Pinter, Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen. Loach is the third film director to be honored, following David Lean in 1991 and Mike Leigh in 2004.<\/p>\n

This story appears in Cue Entertainment<\/a> Here’s more about Ken Loach<\/a> at the BFI and also the Critics’ Circle<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ray Bennett British independent filmmaker Ken Loach says that independent film is under attack. The director, whose 2006 film \u201cThe Wind That Shakes the Barley\u201d won the Palme d\u2019Or at the Festival de Cannes, was presented on Thursday with … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,9],"tags":[1418,1414,1416,758,1415,1417],"class_list":["post-2554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-film","category-news","tag-anna-smith","tag-critics-circle","tag-jason-solomons","tag-ken-loach","tag-philip-french","tag-tom-sutcliffe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2554"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2554\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2560,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2554\/revisions\/2560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}