Coal Miner’s Drifter: Ken Loach in Pre-Production with “The Old Oak”

International sales companies will be unveiling some of their new projects for the next couple of weeks and the Wild Bunch folks are back in the Ken Loach business once again serving up working class/social realism cinema with another times are changing portrait – we often think of his cinema as the English counterpart to the Dardenne Bros (who happen to be co-producers on the project with their Films Du Fleuve label).

Screen Daily reports that production on Loach’s The Old Oak will begin next month – making this a sure bet for a showing in Cannes 2023. Dave Turner (Sorry We Missed You) stars along with newcomer Ebla Mari. The usual mix of folks are back – we have Sixteen Films’ Rebecca O’Brien producing, scribe Paul Laverty and possibly cinematographer Robbie Ryan.

It is set in a former coal-mining village that has never fully recovered from the closure of the mines. Its once-thriving, proud community struggles to keep old values alive amid growing anger and despondency, while few youngsters stick around. An influx of Syrian refugees, drawn by the abundance of cheap and available housing, brings in fresh blood but it is not clear whether the community will accept them and what it means for the last remaining pub The Old Oak.