I, Daniel Blake, the new film directed by Ken Loach and starring comedian Dave Johns has won the Public Prize Award at the Locarno Film Festival.

Johns had been at the festival and was due to return to the UK today but now has to stay another night for the ceremony. The film has already won the Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and is released in the UK this autumn.

In the film the stand-up from Wallsend plays a middle-aged joiner who needs state welfare after illness. He meets a single mother played by Hayley Squires, who is also dependent on welfare. The story follows them as they negotiate the benefits system. 

Johns, who was formerly a bricklayer, has been a successful comedian for over two decades. In recent years he has also appeared in a number of hit plays in the theatre. He was in One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest, Twelve Angry Men and also The Odd Couple with Bill Bailey and Alan Davies. 

The film was scripted by Paul Laverty and shot in and around Newcastle last year. 

Watch Johns in the trailer below.