Event
FILM
I, Daniel Blake
Winner of the Palme d’Or at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. The latest from legendary director Ken Loach is a gripping, human tale about the impact one man can make. Daniel Blake (Dave Johns) has worked as a joiner most of his life in Newcastle. Now, for the first time ever, he needs help from the State. Gruff but goodhearted, Blake is a man out of time: a widowed woodworker who’s never owned a computer, he lives according to his own common sense moral code. But after a heart attack leaves him unable to work and the state welfare system fails him, the stubbornly self-reliant Daniel must stand up and fight for his dignity, leading a one-man crusade for compassion. He crosses paths with a single mother Katie (Hayley Squires) and her two young children, Daisy and Dylan. Katie’s only chance to escape a one-roomed homeless hostel in London has been to accept a flat in a city she doesn’t know, some 300 miles away. Daniel and Katie find themselves in no-man’s land, caught on the barbed wire of welfare bureaucracy as played out against the rhetoric of ‘striver and skiver’ in modern day Britain. Graced with humor and heart, I, Daniel Blake is a moving, much-needed reminder of the power of empathy from one of the world’s greatest living filmmakers.
"In a world that seems to be getting worse with every passing minute, I, Daniel Blake is a sobering but inspiring pleasure - easily one of the best films of the year."
"This is a simple story about a hot topic. It's wonderfully told, full of deep compassion, scalding rage and surprising humor. It's not to be missed."
"Writer-director Ken Loach has been making movies about the British working class since the mid-60s, and this masterful dramatic feature proves that even after all these years he can still work himself up into righteous, white-hot rage."
"Brims with spirit, sympathy and candor as it tackles the catastrophic displacement brought on by economic and technological change."
