BBC Film has backed two films premiering in Cannes Film Festival’s Official Selection: Jessica Hausner’s Club Zero and Ken Loach’s The Old Oak will both screen in Competition at the high-profile festival.

Eva Yates, Director of BBC Film, says of the Cannes selections: “A new film from Ken Loach, one of our most celebrated directors working today, is always a big event and it’s been a pleasure to partner with Ken and his long-time collaborators Paul Laverty and Rebecca O’Brien once again on this moving and timely story of hope and unity. Congratulations to all involved - The Old Oak marks Ken’s fifteenth film to screen in Competition in Cannes, a truly extraordinary achievement.

“We also congratulate Jessica Hausner and all her collaborators including Géraldine Bajard, Bruno Wagner, Philippe Bober, Johannes Schubert and UK producer Mike Goodridge on Club Zero, which will World Premiere in Official Competition. Shot in Oxford and made with partners from around the world, Hausner’s cast includes international stars Mia Wasikowska, Sidse Babett Knudsen and Amir El-Masry, and a quintet of outstanding newcomers as Miss Novak’s favoured pupils. Club Zero is charismatic, intense and inventive, a truly original work we are proud to have supported.”

About the films (in alphabetical order):

Club Zero

Directed by Jessica Hausner / Written by Jessica Hausner & Géraldine Bajard / Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Elsa Zylberstein, Mathieu Demy, Amir El-Masry.

Miss Novak joins the staff of an international boarding school to teach a conscious eating class. She instructs that eating less is healthy. The other teachers are slow to notice what is happening and by the time the distracted parents begin to realise, Club Zero has become a reality.

Shot in Oxford, UK and Austria, CLUB ZERO is the the sixth feature from celebrated Austrian film-maker Jessica Hausner. Hausner’s previous feature Little Joe screened in Competition in Cannes in 2019 and won the best actress award for Emily Beecham.

Producers are Bruno Wagner, Philippe Bober, Mike Goodridge, Johannes Schubert. A coop99 filmproduktion and Coproduction Office production with support from Paloma Productions, Austrian Film Institute, FISA - Film Industry Support Austria, ORF (Film/Television Agreement), Eurimages - Council of Europe, Vienna Film Fund, Copper Pheasant & Gold Rush Films, ZDF/Arte, Arte France Cinéma, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Doha Film Institute, TRT Sinema, The Danish Film Institute & DR, Lower Austria Production Support, Obala Art Centar, and BBC Film.

Coproduction Office is handling world sales.

The Old Oak

Directed by Ken Loach / Written by Paul Laverty / Starring Dave Turner, Ebla Mari.

The Old Oak is a special place. Not only is it the last pub standing, it is the only remaining public space where people can meet in a once thriving mining community that has now fallen on hard times after 30 years of decline. TJ Ballantyne (Dave Turner) the landlord hangs on to The Old Oak by his fingertips, and his hold is endangered even more when The Old Oak becomes contested territory after the arrival of Syrian refugees who are placed in the village.

In an unlikely friendship TJ encounters a young Syrian, Yara (Ebla Mari) with her camera. Can they find a way for the two communities to understand each other? So unfolds a deeply moving drama about loss, fear and the difficulty of finding hope.

The film sees BAFTA-winning director Loach return to the North East following his previous two films I, Daniel Blake,winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival 2016, and Sorry We Missed You which both shot in the region.

The Old Oak is a Sixteen Films and Why Not production made with the support of the BFI, awarding National Lottery funding, and BBC Film and in co-production with Les Films du Fleuve. Wild Bunch International is handling international sales. The Old Oak will be released by Studiocanal in the UK and Ireland in 2023.

WildBunch International is handling international sales.