Belfast Sky Cinema film: where and when to see it

After its critical success, it premiered on Sky Belfast, written and directed by Oscar nominee Kenneth Branagh. Described as one of the most personal works of the British director, actor and screenwriter, it arrives on the small screen after the hype in the room.

Awarded Best Screenplay at the Oscars and Golden Globes, as well as Best Foreign Film at the David di Donatello, Belfast is a film born of Branagh’s direct experience. A nine-year-old boy is on his way to adulthood in a world that has suddenly changed. His stable, loving community and everything he thought he understood about life changed forever. But the joy, the laughs, the music and the formative magic of the films remain. A funny, tender and intensely personal story of a child’s childhood in the turmoil of the late 1960s, set in the director’s hometown. The film will arrive on Sunday October 9 at 9.15pm on Sky Cinema Due (at 9.45pm also on Sky Cinema Drama), streaming on NOW and available on demand.

(L to R) Caitriona Balfe as “Ma”, Jamie Dornan as “Pa”, Judi Dench as “Granny”, Jude Hill as “Buddy” and Lewis McAskie as “Will” in director Kenneth Branagh’s BELFAST, a version of Focus Features. Credit: Rob Youngson / Focus Features
© TKBC 2021. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Belfast, plot and cast of Kenneth Branagh’s latest film coming to Sky

Belfast boasts a diverse cast, full of well-known film faces but also up-and-coming actors. In fact, in the film, we will find Golden Globe nominee Caitríona Balfe, cinema icon and Oscar winner Judi Dench; Jamie Dornan (Fifty Shades), Ciarán Hinds and young newcomer Jude Hill.

Caitriona Balfe (left) stars as ‘Ma’ and Jamie Dornan (right) stars as ‘Pa’ in director Kenneth Branagh’s BELFAST, a Focus Features release. Credit: Rob Youngson / Focus Features
© TKBC 2021. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

The film takes place, as the title suggests, in Belfast, in 1969. Buddy lives with his mother and older brother in a mixed neighborhood, inhabited by Protestants and Catholics. They are neighbours, friends, classmates, but there are those who want them to be sworn enemies and literally throw oil on the fire, fanning religious strife, destroying house windows and community peace. Buddy’s Protestant family stay out of trouble, don’t succumb to the lure of the violent, and look forward to their father’s fortnightly return from London, where he works as a carpenter. Expatriation is a temptation, but how to leave the beloved Belfast, the grandparents with the precious advice of life and love, the blonde Catherine of the first bench?

© TKBC 2021. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.