Sorry We Missed You + Panel Discussion 15

From the archive

This film was last shown on 2 November 2019

Ken Loach returns after 2016’s I, Daniel Blake with the fierce, vital Sorry We Missed You. Supported by his long time collaborators, screenwriter Paul Laverty and producer Rebecca O’Brien, Loach's latest is a passionate indictment of Tory austerity, the absurdities and cruelties of the gig economy, and the impossibility of achieving anything but basic economic survival on an unpredictable minimum wage.

After losing both his career and mortgage after the 2008 financial crash, with a family to support, Ricky is unable to pass up a job with a delivery company, but it turns out the zero-hours job offers no support, no benefits and workers must meet unreasonable targets. Alarmed by their rising debts, and with his wife facing equally exploitative pressures in her own job, their family life struggles to cope with the increasing pressure.

Rigorously researched via off-the-record interviews, Sorry We Missed You depicts the devastating human cost of austerity and the gig economy with gut-wrenching honesty and integrity.

This screening will be followed by a special panel discussion featuring expert speakers addressing the issues raised in the film around contemporary employment practices and the gig economy.

Tom Hunt

The Deputy Director and Policy Research Associate at the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute (SPERI).

Anna Cale

A film, arts and culture writer and broadcaster. She has written for the BFI, Little White Lies and Film Stories magazine. She has appeared on various podcasts and the Radio 4 Film Programme.

Jack Hannam Pearson

A union organiser in Sheffield, working with the BFAWU and Sheffield Needs a Pay Rise to organiselow paid, precarious workers into trade unions and fight against low pay, zero hours contracts and victimisation at work.