"I, Daniel Blake is one of Loach's finest films, a drama of tender devastation that tells its story with an unblinking neorealist simplicity that goes right back to the plainspoken purity of Vittorio De Sica.” – Owen Gleiberman, Variety
“Loach really rages against the machine here - emphatically, heroically, stoically - but the true heart of the film, the friendship between Daniel and Katie, is touching and sincere.” - CJ Johnson, ABC Radio/Australia
Daniel Blake 59, has worked as a joiner most of his life in Newcastle. Now, for the first time ever, he needs help from the State. He crosses paths with a single mother Katie and her two young children, Daisy and Dylan. Katie's only chance to escape a one-roomed homeless hostel in London has been to accept a flat in a city she doesn't know, some 300 miles away. Daniel and Katie find themselves in no-man's land, caught on the barbed wire of welfare bureaucracy as played out against the rhetoric of 'striver and skiver' in modern day Britain.
Awards:
Won, Best Actor (Dave Johns) / Most Promising Newcomer (Hayley Squires)
British Independent Film Awards, 2016
Won, Palme d’Dor, Cannes Film Festival, 2016
Won, Best Actress (Hayley Squires) /Nominated Best Film, Denver International Film Festival, 2016
Nominated, Best European Actor/Director/Screenwriter/Film European Film Awards, 2016
Won, Audience Award, Locarno International Film Festival, 2016
Won, Audience Award, San Sebastián International Film Festival, 2016
Won, Audience Award, Stockholm Film Festival, 2016
Won, Most Popular International Feature, Vancouver International Film Festival, 2016
This program is sponsored by Busch Systems, Hugh Hardy RE/MAX Broker, Netgain, Pilatez.ca, Restorations by Rodgers/Renovations by Rodgers, Storage Mart, Venable Park Investment Council Inc.