DHAKA: British director Ken Loach’s film ‘I, Daniel Blake’ has won the Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival.

It was the 79-year-old’s second award for best picture at the festival after 2006’s ‘The Wind That Shakes the Barley’, reports the BBC.

Loach attacked the ‘dangerous project of austerity’ as he accepted the award for his film about a middle-aged widower and the UK welfare system.

Kent-born director Andrea Arnold won the competition’s Jury Prize for her road movie ‘American Honey’.

Irish cinematographer Robbie Ryan shot both films.

It was the 13th time Loach, a social campaigner for most of his career and the director of more than 50 movies, has competed at the event.

‘I, Daniel Blake’, which stars stand-up comedian Dave Johns in the title role, was written by long-time Loach collaborator Paul Laverty.

BDST: 1221 HRS, MAY 24, 2016
RR