“The Old Oak” won the Directors’ Choice Best Humanitarian Film at the recent Sedona International Film Festival.
The Old Oak is the last pub standing in a once thriving mining village in northern England, a gathering space for a community that has fallen on hard times. There is growing anger, resentment, and a lack of hope among the residents, but the pub and its proprietor TJ are a fond presence to their customers.
When a group of Syrian refugees move into the floundering village, a decisive rift fueled by prejudices develops between the community and its newest inhabitants.
The formation of an unexpected friendship between TJ and a young Syrian woman named Yara opens up new possibilities for the divided village in this deeply moving drama about loss, fear, and the difficulty of finding hope. Can they find a way for the two communities to understand each other?
Legendary, award-winning British director Ken Loach — who is 87 years old — has announced that “The Old Oak” will be his final film.