Ken Loach is currently making a film about Jeremy Corbyn in order to "show what he's really like", the director has told BuzzFeed News.
Loach, the man behind the likes of Kes, Cathy Come Home, and the recent award-winning I, Daniel Blake, has spent time on the road with Corbyn during the early days of the election campaign with a view to making a party political broadcast focusing on the Labour leader's human side.
The director said he felt Corbyn's ability to bond with ordinary people wasn't being reported fairly.
"Of course the press won't report this, the BBC and ITV won't show it," said Loach, in reference to coverage of the Labour leader's character. "All the evidence shows they're hostile to him in a way that's quite different to any other political leader. So we're trying to get it on record that he is actually a human being."
On Monday the director travelled with a sizeable film crew to record footage in Worcester, where he interviewed nurses who had just met Corbyn and recorded their views on the Labour leader's NHS policies.
Loach would not confirm the exact format of the film – "We're just recording a few shots," he said – but the film crew's kit was labelled with references to a party political broadcast.
A spokesperson for the Labour leader said the plan was for the film to be used as a party election broadcast, i.e. a short film shown on national television channels for free during an election period, although the exact format and timing of its release are still unconfirmed.
Loach is a longtime left-wing activist. In 2013 he founded a new political party, Left Unity, that stood candidates against Labour in protest against the party's economic stance under Ed Miliband. However, he is now a strong supporter of Corbyn.
"I think that the big policy ideas – such as getting all the private contractors out of the NHS and stopping it being a market and everyone working together – that's the biggest and most important idea," said Loach when asked why he was motivated to make the film for Corbyn.
Loach was strongly critical of the media for not portraying the Labour leader's character accurately. He attacked journalists at The Guardian – "Jonathan Freedland on Saturday, [Polly] Toynbee, [Gaby] Hinsliff, the whole gang" – for not being positive enough about Corbyn. Instead, he urged journalists writing about the Labour leader to "report that he works well with people, because he does".