25/10/2006

Palme d’Or-winning director Ken Loach is back behind the camera for These Times, a new social drama about immigration shooting from October 16 until November 24 between Poland (Katowice), the UK (London’s East End) and the Ukraine (Kiev).

The film tells the story of Angie (Kierston Wareing), who gets the sack from a recruitment agency for bad behaviour in public. Seizing the opportunity, she teams up with her flatmate Rose (Juliet Ellis) to run a similar business from their kitchen. With immigrants desperate to work, such as the Polish Karol (Leslaw Zurek from Ode to Joy), the opportunities are considerable, particularly for two girls so in tune with these times.

The film is being produced by Loach’s long time partner Rebecca O’Brien (Sixteen Films) with the usual European co-producers EMC Asset Management (Germany), BIM Distribuzione (Italy), Tornasol Films (Spain) as well as the new Polish co-production partner SPI. Co-financiers include Channel 4 in the UK, NRW in Germany and pre-sales have already been sealed by Pathe International with Diaphana in France, Cineart in Belgium and Film Coopi in Switzerland. The delivery date is set for June 30, 2007.

Loach’s The Wind That Shakes the Barley [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ken Loach
interview: Rebecca O’Brien
film profile] continues its phenomenal theatrical run in the UK under Pathé’s flagship (Over £3.7m in 18 weeks) and in France, where Diaphana has scored with almost 900,000 admissions.