The incredible story of Jimmy Gralton’s dancehall hits the silver screen

Ken Loach and Paul Laverty tell Padraic Killeen about the incredible story of Jimmy Gralton and how his dancehall became a source of conflict with conservative forces.

AS DOUBLE-ACTS go it’s a formidable one. Ken Loach, the illustrious English filmmaker, and screenwriter Paul Laverty, a former human rights worker, have been making films together since 1996’s Carla’s Song, a story based loosely on Laverty’s experiences in war-torn Nicaragua.

Of course, their most acclaimed collaboration is The Wind that Shakes the Barley, their harrowing Irish Civil War drama that won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2006.