Kenneth Branagh Reveals the Big Changes Belfast Went Through in Editing Room

With Belfast now playing in theaters, I recently spoke to writer-director Kenneth Branagh about the making of his most personal film yet. If you haven’t seen the trailer, Belfast is a semi-autobiographical film based on Branagh’s own childhood growing up in the city and what took place in the summer of 1969 (which was known as The Troubles). The film mostly follows a working-class family and their struggles as the city starts to deal with the growing conflict and escalating violence. Shot beautifully in black and white, with a great soundtrack by Belfast’s own Van Morrison, Belfast also stars Jamie Dornan, Caitriona Balfe, Ciarán Hinds, Jude Hill, and Judi Dench and was produced by Branagh, Laura Berwick, Becca Kovacik and Tamar Thomas. During the interview, Branagh talked about how the pandemic allowed him the time to finally tell this story, his reaction to the great reviews, what people always want to talk to him about after they’ve seen the film, the big obstacles he dealt with in the editing