Film Director To Receive Honorary Doctorate

One of the UK's foremost film directors is to receive an honorary doctorate of arts from Coventry University next week in recognition of his contribution to the British film industry.

The award-winning director, Ken Loach, will be presented with the doctorate on Monday 17th November in a ceremony at Coventry Cathedral.

Nuneaton-born Loach is globally renowned for his gritty, hard-hitting style of cinema which explores class society in the UK while drawing attention to some of the most poignant and contentious social issues including mental health, homelessness, labour rights and unemployment.

Amongst his most successful film creations is the BAFTA-winning Kes (1969), which tells the story of a working-class boy from Barnsley who finds an escape in learning to train a kestrel; Palm d’Or winner The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006), a film about the Irish War of Independence and subsequent Irish Civil War during the 1920s; and – more recently – the Jury Prize winning Angels’ Share (2012), a comedy-drama about a Glaswegian father who turns over a new leaf after narrowly avoiding jail.

The honorary degree will be made alongside around 7,000 graduands of Coventry University – including over 100 who studied media production and photography – who will be presented with their degree certificates in the cathedral, watched by their families.

(CD)