Kenneth Branagh's 'Belfast' Transports the KCET Cinema Series to Northern Ireland on Nov. 9
Q&A immediately following screening with director Kenneth Branagh and cast members Caitriona Balfe, Jamie Dornan, Ciaran Hinds and Jude Hill.
A semi-autobiographical film by Kenneth Branagh which chronicles the life of a working-class family and their young son's childhood during the tumult of the late 1960s in the Northern Ireland capital. The comedy-drama stars Caitríona Balfe, Judi Dench, Jamie Dornan, Ciáran Hinds, and newcomer Jude Hill, and features music by Belfast native Van Morrison.
"Belfast is a city of stories," says Branagh, "and in the late 1960s it went through an incredibly tumultuous period of its history, very dramatic, sometimes violent, that my family and I were caught up in. It's taken me fifty years to find the right way to write about it, to find the tone I wanted. It can take a very long time to understand just how simple things can be and finding that perspective, years on, provides a great focus. The story of my childhood, which inspired the film, has become a story of the point in everyone’s life when the child crosses over into adulthood, where innocence is lost. That point of crossover, in Belfast in 1969, was accelerated by the tumult happening around us all."
Immediately following the screening, Deadline's chief film critic Pete Hammond, who can also be seen on KCET’s Must See Movies, moderated a Q&A with director Kenneth Branagh and cast members Caitriona Balfe, Jamie Dornan, Ciaran Hinds and Jude Hill.
Listen to the Q&A from the screening below.
The long-running in-person series returns in November to the historic Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, while the popular virtual series continues on Eventive, a technology platform designed specifically to enhance the online film viewing experience.