Ken Loach. Genius.

I like all sorts of films.

Over the holidays I discovered that my mrs had never seen Back to the Future. Amazing!

So, I had the enormous pleasure of buying the triple DVD pack and even more fun watching BTTF1, hopefully see 2 next weekend. The films are even funnier now that they're so dated (on the subject of which, did you know Wall Street 2 is coming out this year?)

So, please don't accuse me of just liking serious political films, alright?!

But, I really, really love Ken Loach's films. Ken Loach is just one of those guys, and you don't have to be a Lefty or a Guardian reader to acknowledge this, that just has integrity and pride in his work.

He only does a film when he has something to say, usually about an underdog, that the mainstream film industry won't touch. He also gets actors from "normal" backgrounds who have talent but are, as yet, undiscovered. He doesn't care about making loads of money. He just does what he is good at; making films that entertain but also make the audience think.

Its hard to believe that this attitude is so unfashionable (I'll admit it, I watched the first night of Celebrity Big Brother last night, I always do, and I am proud to say I hardly knew any of them).

The first Ken Loach film I saw was Kes, when I was a lad. Forced to by my English teacher but loved it all the same. Then, when I became an adult I discovered Ken Loach for myself. A Question of Leadership was banned from C4 because it was too critical of the Thatcher Government. Whose Side are You On was also banned during the miners strike, it was seen as "too political".

Carla's Song and Hidden Agenda start off well enough (first part of Carla's song with Robert Carlyle taking a Glasgow double decker bus up to the Highlands is just magic)but lose their focus, which is a shame. Land and Freedom was also a bit of a missed opportunity and the great film about the Spanish civil war has yet to be made.

The Wind That Shakes the Barley is the film about the Irish civil war that Land and Freedom should have been about Spain. Painful to watch at times, but fantastic political film making. As is Bread and Roses about illegal immigration to the USA. Sweet Sixteen, set in Greenock, is well worth a watch too.

But, the best film he's ever made, IMHO, is My Name is Joe. That's why I'm not just delighted that the film is being shown as a special Modern Studies event at the Glasgow Youth Film Festival, I'm honoured to have the slightest, tiniest, connection with bringing this film to a wider audience.

I'll never forget when the film first came out in 1999. I took my Higher class from Boroughmuir High School in Edinburgh to see it. Higher pupils from Boroughmuir don't know very much about Glasgow and they don't know very much about housing estates or poverty. That's not their fault. They're lucky to have been born into comfortable backgrounds and everybody should. At the end of the film there wasn't one girl, and a few of the boys, who came out in tears. If I wasn't such a big hard guy myself I'd have been the same.

Gary Lewis, who's gone on to Gangs of New York and all sorts of other big films is coming along and Peter Mullan, who plays Joe might make it too. I hope you can make it.

There's still loads of other Ken Loach films I haven't seen. Aye Fond Kiss is one, for starts, Looking for Eric another. Check them out yourself, maybe not the film for a first date, but your mind and brain will be all the healthier.