Kes: New book looks at what Ken Loach's film means to Yorkshire 50 years on

A film made more than 50 years in Barnsley still resonates as strongly now as it did then.

Kes – based on Barry Hines’ book A Kestrel for a Knave – was made in 1969 and quickly became renowned for director Ken Loach’s compassion and depiction of working class Barnsley.

Now a new book published by the British Film Institute is celebrating the lasting legacy of Kes and its impact on both British and world cinema.

Written by an expert in film from the University of Sheffield, the book shines a spotlight on how Kes is a key resource for understanding post-industrial Britain and the current politics in the North of England.

University of Sheffield professor is also highlighting how working class arts and literature is more important than ever and how stories like Kes give young, working class people a voice.

Kes has been recognised as a British classic and a landmark in world cinema, by a new book published by the British Film Institute (BFI).

Considered one of the finest examples of British social realism, Kes tells the story of Billy, a working class boy who finds escape and meaning when he takes a fledgling kestrel from its nest. The film went on to win two BAFTA awards and was nominated for a further three.

Now, 55 years on from its original release, a new book written by Professor Dave Forrest from the University of Sheffield’s School of English - an expert in British film and the life and works of Hines - is celebrating Kes for its lasting legacy and its enduring cultural presence.

The book also highlights how Kes is a key resource for understanding the cultural heritage of post-industrial Britain and the politics of the North of England today.

Professor Dave Forrest, Professor of Film and Television Studies at the University of Sheffield, said: “Kes endures because it tells a universal story about education, potential, and resistance, with a powerfully authentic sense of specificity - this is a specificity that comes from its location in Barnsley, and from the non-professional actors - many of them children - who drew on their own lives and experiences to give the film its realism.

"The film shows us that places like Barnsley - often overlooked and maligned in mainstream culture - are sites of humour, creativity, beauty and potential. Far from being pessimistic, Kes points to a hopeful way of imagining Britain as formed from the unique cultural contributions of its regions, towns and cities.”

Professor Forrest studied the Hines archive - a collection of papers from Barry Hines that were donated to the University of Sheffield’s Library. The collection includes manuscripts of his major works, including A Kestrel for a Knave, the basis for the film.

Papers show how Hines and the film’s director Loach, together with the film’s writer Tony Garnett, collaborated to bring the story to the screen, as well as an insight into how it was funded and produced.

Professor Forrest added: “The book explains the conditions that allowed the creativity at the heart of Kes to thrive, and traces how working-class artists such as Barry Hines, and the film’s producer, Tony Garnett, were able to draw on their own backgrounds to challenge the dominant ways of representing British society through film and television.”

To order the book, click here.

To mark the launch, a screening of the film and an introduction to the book is being held at Sheffield’s Showroom Cinema tonight (May 9) at 6pm. For more information and tickets, click here.