7. 20 May, The Old Oak (2023)

The latest film from award winning director Ken Loach is typically forthright in its imagery and plain-spoken in its message. The setting is 2016 there’s a sense of injustice in the village, a community wounded by the coal mine closures back in the 80s. The arrival of several families of Syrian refugees is a flashpoint for tensions. Much of this is vented in the pub, the Old Oak. Meanwhile, a young man - TJ – disappointed, decent and, like everyone else, just about clinging on strikes up a friendship with Yara, a young female refugee. Together with aid worker Laura, they devise a plan to bring the two communities together.