Q&A at the Duke Of York's	Introducing Ken at the post-film discussion

BIFS's special event - the Ken Loach Film Day with Ken Loach - held on Sunday Oct 30th was a huge success. Renowned British filmmaker Ken Loach is the patron of BIFS and his presence on the day drew an enthusiastic response from film lovers in and around Brighton.

The day started at 12:30 with a screening of Land and Freedom, the classic tale of struggle against the Fascists during the Spanish Civil War. After the screening, Ken appeared on stage at the Duke Of York's cinema to a rapturous applause and took part in a Q&A session.

During the Q&A, Ken answered questions on his use of both improvisation and non-professional actors, pointing out that some of the actors within the film were actually involved in the conflict itself. He also talked about why the British have traditionally been so interested in the Spanish Civil War and how its resonance has been felt all over the world in other struggles.

Ken provided several amusing anecdotes surrounding the shooting of Land and Freedom. For example, in a key scene of a meeting between villagers and members of the revolutionary POUM, the actor playing the chair of the meeting had to be proposed and seconded by the other actors to be allowed to play this role in true democratic fashion.

The Q&A session lasted about 20 minutes, and was followed by the next Ken Loach screening, Ae Fond Kiss - a completely different film from the first dealing with an inter-racial love relationship that touched on religious attitudes in modern day Glasgow.

Ken Loach	Addressing the audience

The double-bill at The Duke of York's cinema was a great success but that was not the end of the day. Across the road at Circus Circus, he led an extremely enlightening post-film discussion to a audience of over 70 people.

The afternoon began with a discussion as to why Ken's films are often international co-productions and how they allow Ken to be suprisingly free in both content and style. Part of Ken's aim in cinema is to make films that are fairly open to interpretation and that don't tell the audience what to think.

Discussion around Ae Fond Kiss followed, covering various issues such as the depiction of the catholic priest, the gender politics of the film and whether the ending was optimistic or not.

The one and a half hour discussion also covered such diverse topics as the role of realism in his films, digital filmmaking and whether Ken had any aspirations to be like Alfred Hitchcock and appear in his films. To the latter, Ken modestly expressed his lack of ambition in front of the camera, but we could look out for the presence of a little known Loachian hallmark of a 3-legged dog!

BIFS is very grateful to Ken for making this event such a success and one of the most memorable film events to happen in Brighton. The committee would also like to thank all members and non-members, who took part in the event to make it a great day.

Discussion	Engrossed

..with the BIFS committee