Kes (1969) (PG)

SCREENING AS PART OF FROM PAGE TO SCREEN FILM FESTIVAL

Tickets: Adult £8 | Cons & U25’s £6

With Post Screening Q&A with Christopher Eccleston

Ken Loach’s much loved film is the story of a boy (David Bradley ) who, coming from an abusive and dysfunctional working-class family and bullied at school, manages to transcend his difficult life and discover his own private means of fulfilment when he adopts a fledgling kestrel and proceeds to train it in the art of falconry. Listed as 7th in the 100 best British films of the 20th Century Kes is agreed by many to be Loach’s masterpiece. Graeme Ross writing in The Independent notes that ‘with Chris Menges’ superb camerawork lit only by natural light, Kes remains a true British classic and the peak of Loach’s illustrious body of work. Christopher Eccleston recently read Barry Hine’s novel Kes for BBC4 and described how Ken Loach’s 1969 film adaptation transformed his life; “it changed my entire view of myself and culture for working class people. It inspired me to smash down the ivory towers built by Oxbridge and get into the arts world.”

After the screening, Christopher Eccleston will be in conversation with filmmaker Simon Ford with whom he’s narrated the commentary on BBC One’s BAFTA-winning series Ambulance series since 2017.