‘I am honoured to hold this position and pleased to send a message of congratulations to the Festival dei Popoli for its 65th edition: documentaries have always had a very important function: they must bear witness to what is happening’.

With these words, multi-award-winning director Ken Loach expressed his best wishes to the Festival dei Popoli in a video message to the Festival dei Popoli, under the artistic direction of Alessandro Stellino and the organisational direction of Claudia Maci. Forty years after winning the first prize at the festival, Loach was appointed honorary president by the members' assembly chaired by Roberto Ferrari.

‘What is happening today, as we know, is really shocking. We see these wars, all these people suffering. We see the actions of some states, who do not care about international human rights, who only pursue their own interests, causing massacres and suffering on an enormous scale,’ Loach continued, in a video message that will be screened during the festival's opening night on 2 November at 8.30 p.m. at La Compagnia cinema. ‘Sometimes our own countries are involved, as in my case. We have to act as witnesses and tell the truth'.

He then adds a special memory that links him to the Festival dei Popoli, referring to his documentary ‘Which Side Are You On?’:

’I have a special reason to celebrate this festival. Forty years ago, in 1984, crucial events happened in Britain. The miners' strike against Margaret Thatcher's right-wing government. She had decided to close the quarry and destroy the miners' communities because they were the most politically active groups in the country, they were radical, committed and determined. The right-wing Labour and trade union leaders gave the miners little or no support. Full state power was used against the miners and the police were particularly brutal. I managed to make a documentary that should have been aired, but they refused to broadcast it. They said: ‘We will not show the police beating the miners.’ And I said, ‘But it's the truth. We have the pictures, we have the evidence'. But they refused to show them. The Festival dei Popoli screened that film that was in danger of never being shown, awarded it and I am immensely grateful. Later, right towards the end of the strike and when it was failing, it was finally shown in my country too, and it was thanks to this festival. Festivals are important. They are not just for cinephiles. Festivals matter. This festival matters. Documentaries count. Good luck and solidarity'