00:00Hi everybody, my name is Kenneth Branagh, and I'm the writer-director of Belfast.
00:06And I have to tell you, I love film festivals.
00:09I love the people who program them, I love the people who work at them,
00:13and I love the audiences who attend them,
00:15for they're all united in a passion for film, which I share.
00:20And I believe that festivals and their audiences have never been more important than they are now
00:25to celebrate film and filmgoers, and to encourage audiences back, together into the dark,
00:33before those big screens, to see those flickering images enthrall, or outrageous,
00:39or simply entertain the heck out of us.
00:42Now you've got a fantastic selection of films at your amazing festival,
00:46and so I'm very honoured that you've taken the time to come and see my movie.
00:51It's the story of something that happened to me when I was nine years old,
00:55and which changed my life forever.
00:57It also affected the lives of many, many others in profound ways that reverberate to this day.
01:04And it's a story that I've wanted to tell for 50 years,
01:07during which time the sounds of this city, with its great humour,
01:11that can be so heartbreaking and so heartwarming, have been filling my head.
01:17And after half a century, I knew that attention must be paid,
01:21and at the start of lockdown, I really listened, and I wrote down what I heard.
01:28You're about to see the results.
01:30Thank you again for coming, and thank you so much to Universal Pictures,
01:33and to Focus Features, and our amazing cast and crew for bringing the film here.
01:37But it's you who complete this journey.
01:41You, the audience, are the reason I make films.
01:45It's that simple.
01:46Thank you very much.
01:48And now to the film itself.
01:51These events take place in a great northern city on the island of Ireland a long time ago,
01:59in a place called Belfast.
02:02Belfast.
02:03Belfast.
Commenti