BFI Presents: The Old Oak

Ken Loach 's latest film, the third in the .North-Eastern Trilogy. Believed to be his final film. It didn't get a mainstream distributor, I'm guessing.

Pity, because it was excellent. I watched it along with just yen other people. The story concerns the arrival of a group of Syrian refugees to a village in the North-East of England already on its knees because of the closure of the mines. Photography draws two people together: a refugee called Yara whose camera suffers an injury at the start of the film, and the pub landlord, whose father depicted the struggles of the miners' strike in stark black and white images. Food and feeding people is another theme, along with poverty, racism, and the eponymous Old Oak, the village pub and its regulars. I won't say more, except: do see it if you get the chance.


Tricky day at work, because I got a tough phone call at 4pm that I had to deal with, and that spilled over past my leaving time. Some situations just can't be fixed easily, if at all, and I'm gutted for my client. May they have the courage and strength to face what lies ahead. If ever the whole world needed courage and strength, it's right now.