Kenneth Branagh says Belfast film inspired by ‘20 seconds where my life changed’

Kenneth Branagh says as a child he experienced “20 seconds where my life changed forever, when a mob came down our street”, which provided him with creative inspiration decades later.

“It turned into a riot where they smashed windows and pulled the drains up out of the street and used pieces of wrought iron,” Branagh said.

His semi-autobiographical film Belfast follows a working class protestant family during The Troubles in Northern Ireland and has already received various nominations going into the 2022 awards season.

Sign up to our free newsletters by clicking here