I, Daniel Blake

Question 1

who was the film directed by?

Answer 1

Ken loach

Question 2

what two countries was the film a co-production for?

Answer 2

-Uk (sixteen films) and France (why not productions)

Question 3

what is the film classed as?

Answer 3

an independent, social realist film

Question 4

what three organisations did the film get funding from?

Answer 4

-BFI
-National lottery
-BBC

Question 5

how much did the film gross?

Answer 5

around $8 million (Ken loach’s highest grossing film)

Question 6

why did the film get so much critisism?

Answer 6

due to the contemporary social and political issues

Question 7

what award did the film win?

Answer 7

The palme d’or at cannes and was nominated for many BAFTA’s

Question 8

what is the BBC’s aim?

Answer 8

to make bold, distinctive and fearless films with range and ambition

Question 9

what is the film’s political message?

Answer 9

-conveys a clear, left wing political message and critisises specific government policies

Question 10

where was the film mostly filmed?

Answer 10

In location setting in Newcastle e.g the hospital and the job centre- all places that people who live similar lives to Daniel Blake have seen

Question 11

how is the film shown to be an independent film?

Answer 11

-filmed on location setting
-features lesser known actors
-produced on a smaller budget ($3.5 million )
-contains semi-improvised dialogue
-contains dark humour
-lack of non-diagetic music
-linear narrative
-doesn’t appear on special effects

Question 12

how much did the film make worldwide?

Answer 12

$12.45 million

Question 13

how much did the film make in France?

Answer 13

$6.4 million

Question 14

what is versimilitude?

Answer 14

giving the appearance of reality

Question 15

what is austerity?

Answer 15

the measure of how much a country is in-debt

Question 16

what was the film made to highlight?

Answer 16

injustices in the UK benefit system

Question 17

the film was released when what was happening in society?

Answer 17

when a lot of controversy surrounding the British government’s department for work and pensions started arising- statistics released showed an average between 2011-14 90 people a month died after being told they were fit to work a couple of weeks beforehand.

Question 18

how was the film referenced in parliament?

Answer 18

-Jeremy Corbyn urged Theresa may (who’s conservative part has overseen major benefit cutbacks to watch the film)

Question 19

where was the premiere taken to?

Answer 19

Newcastle so that the people who related to the story could take cultural ownership

Question 20

who was invited to the pre-screening?

Answer 20

people who’s stories resonated with those of the characters in the film

Question 21

what happened at the London premiere?

Answer 21

politicians from the labour party were invited as guests

Question 22

what were the different ways the film was marketed?

Answer 22

-films title and one of the most important speeches in the film was beamed onto the side of the parliament building
-clean graffiti across 200 pavements
-recording videos of people reading out the speech alongside messages from people also hurt by the benefit system
-became one of the year’s biggest free to watch films
-collaborated with the mirror (which has a broader working class readership)

Question 23

what did the mirror do?

Answer 23

-offer free tickets to it’s readers
-change it’s title font to the same font used for ‘I, Daniel Blake’

Question 24

what happened in France?

Answer 24

an individual spray painted ‘I daniel Blake’ on the side of the UK job centre while at an anti-austerity demonstration in France

Question 25

what charity movement was set up?

Answer 25

on twitter, a charity movement called ‘A bag for Katie’ which encouraged people to donate sanitary towels and toiletries

Question 26

what are sanctions?

Answer 26

stopping benefits

Question 27

when was the film released?

Answer 27

2016

Question 28

what are the target audience for the film?

Answer 28

-socially aware people / social activists
-older audiences who have seen Ken loach’s previous work
-people who can relate to the stories of the characters in the film