'' The Gamekeeper '' is a 1980 British drama film directed by Ken Loach . It is based on a novel of the same name by Barry Hines . It competed in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival . As with Barry Hines 's other scripts , most of the dialogue is in Yorkshire dialect . The film was produced by Associated Television , which broadcast to the English Midlands . On its release , it was only shown in the ATV area and at a few film festivals . The dialogue in the film was difficult for residents in some areas of the Midlands to understand . After this very limited release , the film fell into obscurity and became one of Loach 's rarest films . In September 2007 , it was released on DVD for the first time in the Ken Loach Collection boxset and again became widely available . The DVD recording was remastered by the British Film Institute from a recording of the original ATV broadcast , with a director 's commentary as an extra
1980 Cannes Film Festival
1980 Cannes Film Festival
The Gamekeeper (film)