Berlinale 2013: Panel discussion with Ken Loach on his film “The Spirit Of ’45”

An extract from the panel discussion on February 11, 2013 at Haus der Berliner Festspiele.

Following the screening of his film “The Spirit of ’45”, director and doyen of European auteur cinema Ken Loach entered into discussion with the audience. Well known and highly regarded for his socially engaged filmmaking, Loach has already been a guest at the Berlinale several times, most recently with the anthology film Tickets which screened in Competition in 2005. In 2004 he was awarded the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury and the Prize of the Guild of German Art House Cinemas for Ae Fond Kiss. In his documentary The Spirit of ’45 he speaks to eyewitnesses from the post-war era about the reconstruction of Britain as a welfare state and its radical destruction by Margaret Thatcher’s neo-liberal policies.

The discussion was moderated by the historian and journalist Michael Sontheimer.