The Old Oak

The Old Oak (2023) — watch online on iFILM — is a social drama by Ken Loach, co-produced by BBC Film and Sixteen Films with a screenplay by Paul Laverty. Dave Turner and Ebla Mari lead the cast.

The story is set in a struggling former mining village in northeast England, where the pits have long gone and the pub run by TJ Ballantyne is just about the last thing still standing. When Syrian refugee families are resettled in the empty terraced houses, locals turn hostile. TJ is caught in the middle. His regulars want nothing to do with the newcomers, but a young Syrian woman named Yara — camera always in hand — quietly shifts his perspective, one shared meal at a time.

Selected for the Cannes 2023 competition, this is among the final films from Loach, a director who twice won the Palme d'Or for I, Daniel Blake and The Wind That Shakes the Barley. Stream The Old Oak in good quality on iFILM.