The Ken Loach Collection: Volume 2

A second volume of films by highly-acclaimed British director Ken Loach. Loach's television play 'Cathy Come Home' (1966), made for the BBC's Wednesday Play series, is probably the most famous British television play ever, watched by a quarter of the population both on its first broadcast in November 1966 and on its repeat in January 1967. Carol White stars as the bright young bride Cathy, who is driven to despair by the social and economic forces pitted against her as she struggles to keep her children in a housing system that is constantly working against her. Loach used voice-overs of actual people caught up in the system and managed to get the unfairness of the system into the debating arena at the time. In 'My Name is Joe' (1998), recovering alcoholic Joe Kavanagh (Peter Mullan) is out of work, but spends his time coaching the local football team. When he goes to pick up team member Liam (David McKay), he meets social worker Sarah Downie (Louise Goodall). Although they clash at first, the pair are soon involved in a relationship. Joe learns from Sarah that Liam and his wife, Sabine (Annemarie Kennedy), owe money to local gangster McGowan (David Hayman). In an attempt to help Liam pay off his debt, Joe agrees to do three drugs runs for McGowan. However, his relationship with Sarah suffers when she finds out what he has done. 'Sweet Sixteen' (2002) is a coming-of-age drama set in Greenock, Scotland, where unemployment is high and drugs are rife. Liam (Martin Compston) is a young, restless teenager, who hangs around the streets with best mate Pinball (William Ruane) and waits for the release from jail of his mother, Jean (Michelle Coulter), who is serving time for a crime actually committed by her drug dealer boyfriend, Stan (Gary McCormack). When Liam refuses to help Stan out with his latest consignment of drugs, he ends up being kicked out of his own house, and moves in with his older sister, single mum Chantelle (Annmarie Fulton). He decides to find a way out of Stan's violent clutches for himself and his mother when she is released, and in his determination to raise the cash to buy a caravan for them to live in, he comes up with a plan to steal Stan's stash and sell it to local junkies. As his sixteenth birthday approaches, Liam ironically finds himself ending up embroiled in the very life of crime he had struggled to avoid. Atta Yaqub stars in 'Ae Fond Kiss' (2005) as Casim, a second-generation Pakistani from Glasgow. Working as a DJ in Glasgow's coolest venues, Casim dreams of buying his own club. His parents Tariq and Sadia are devout Muslims and plan for him to marry his beautiful cousin Jasmine, who is soon to arrive in the UK. Plans go awry when Casim meets Roisin (Eva Birthistle). A teacher at his sister Tahara's school, Roisin is different from any girl he's ever met. She's gorgeous, intelligent and definitely possesses a mind of her own. She and Casim soon fall deeply in love. But Casim knows all too well that, even if he wasn't due to marry, his parents would never accept a 'goree' - a white girl. As a Catholic, Roisin finds that her own community isn't very supportive either. When their relationship is discovered, the repercussions of the scandal reach far and wide and sparks fly as cultures clash and personalities collide. 'Land and Freedom' (1995) is set in the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s. The fascist General Franco is trying to take control of the country from the recently elected democratic government and the republican loyalists form whatever army they can to stop the uprising. In Liverpool, David (Ian Hart), an unemployed man, attends a republican rally against the uprising and eventually heads for Spain as a volunteer. He joins an English speaking section of the militia and is forced to learn all about survival in this brutal war. In the political drama 'The Wind That Shakes the Barley' (2006), Damien (Cillian Murphy) is about to leave Ireland for his medical studies in London, while his brother Teddy (Padraic Delaney) is an active IRA member. After witnessing an act of resistance to the daily violence of the 'Black and Tans', Damien abandons his burgeoning career and joins his brother in a dangerous and violent fight for freedom. Eventually, both sides agree to a treaty to end the bloodshed. But, despite the apparent victory, civil war erupts and families who fought side by side, find themselves pitted against one another as sworn enemies, putting their loyalties to the ultimate test. In 'Hidden Agenda' (1990), American lawyer Paul Sullivan (Brad Dourif) is shot dead at a police roadblock, supposedly for not stopping. However, his girlfriend Ingrid (Frances McDormand) comes to believe that he was murdered because he discovered sensitive information regarding Northern Ireland. To calm the growing outrage, the British Government assigns a top ranking police inspector (Brian Cox) to investigate, and together with Ingrid he uncovers a trail of corruption, cover-ups and violence. Robert Carlyle stars in 'Carla's Song' (1996) as George, a bus driver in Glasgow who befriends fare dodger Carla (Oyanka Cabezas). After he finds her somewhere to live, she tells him that she is a refugee from war-torn Nicaragua. As he gradually falls in love with Carla, he arranges to travel with her to Managua in search of her lost boyfriend, Antonio - but this is 1987 and the Contra rebels are about to stage their final, lethal assault on the Sandinista Government.

Director: Ken Loach
Producer: Tony Garnett
Producer: Rebecca O'Brien
Producer: Eric Fellner
Producer: Sally Hibbin
Writer: Jeremy Sandford
Writer: Paul Laverty
Writer: Ken Loach
Writer: Jim Allen
Actor: Ray Brooks
Music: George Fenton
Music: Stewart Copeland
Actor: Carol White
Actor: Peter Mullan
Actor: Louise Goodall
Actor: David McKay
Actor: Annemarie Kennedy
Actor: Gary Lewis
Actor: Lorraine McIntosh
Actor: David Hayman
Actor: Scott Hannah
Actor: David Peacock
Actor: Gordon McMurray
Actor: James McHendry
Actor: Paul Clark
Actor: Stephen McCole
Actor: Simon Macallum
Actor: Paul Gillan
Actor: Stephen Docherty
Actor: Martin Compston
Actor: Atta Yaqub
Actor: Eva Birthistle
Actor: Ian Hart
Actor: Cillian Murphy
Actor: Robert Carlyle
Actor: Winifred Dennis
Actor: William Ruane
Actor: Shamshad Akhtar
Actor: Rosana Pastor
Actor: Padraic Delaney
Actor: Oyanka Cabezas
Actor: Wally Patch
Actor: Annmarie Fulton
Actor: Ghizala Avan
Actor: Icíar Bollaín
Actor: Liam Cunningham
Actor: Scott Glenn
Actor: Adrienne Frame
Actor: Michelle Abercromby
Actor: Ali Bakhshi
Actor: Tom Gilroy
Actor: Gerard Kearney
Actor: Frances McDormand
Actor: Salvador Espinoza
Actor: Emmett Hennessy
Actor: Michelle Coulter
Actor: Ahmad Riaz
Actor: Marc Martinez
Actor: Brian Cox
Actor: Geoffrey Palmer
Actor: Gary McCormack
Actor: Shy Ramsan
Actor: Frédéric Pierrot
Actor: Roger Allam
Actor: Brad Dourif
Actor: Richard Loza
Actor: Gabrielle Hamilton
Actor: Tommy McKee
Actor: Gerard Kelly
Actor: Andreas Aladren
Actor: Bill Hurst
Actor: Mai Zetterling
Actor: John Yule
Actor: Sergi Calleja
Actor: Martin Lucey
Actor: Bernard Bloch
Actor: Pamela Turner
Actor: Raffaele Cantanore
Actor: Shane Nott
Actor: John Benfield
Actor: Subash Singh Pall
Actor: Pascal Demolon
Actor: Frank Bourke
Actor: Jim Norton
Actor: Stewart Preston
Actor: Patrick Kavanagh
Actor: Bernard Archard
Actor: Michelle Fairley
Actor: Maurice Roëves