Prize of the Ecumenical Jury, Berlin 2004 (International Competition)

Casim Khan is a successful DJ in Glasgow. The son of Pakistani immigrants, he works in the city’s coolest venues and dreams of buying his own club. His parents Tariq and Sadia are devout Muslims; fiercely protective of their family and their traditions, they plan for him to marry his beautiful cousin Jasmine, who is soon to arrive in the UK. Their plans go awry, however, when Casim meets Roisin. A teacher at his sister Tahara’s school, Roisin is different from any girl he’s ever met. She’s gorgeous, intelligent and definitely possesses a mind of her own. She and Casim soon fall deeply in love. But Casim knows all too well that, even if he wasn’t due to marry, his parents would never accept a ‘goree’ – a European. As a Catholic, Roisin finds that her own community, more than a little skeptical about her love for Casim, doesn’t prove very supportive either. When their relationship is discovered, the repercussions of the scandal reach far and wide and sparks fly as cultures clash and personalities collide. The Glasgow-Asian community was, admits Loach, “a world I didn’t know much about. I had to listen and ask a lot of questions, to gain a sense of other people and find the common denominators. You find that the fundamental politics of families are the same underneath – the difference is in how they are expressed.”  (Festival information Berlinale 2004)