Sir Kenneth Branagh previews 'Belfast' at the Into Film Festival

We were delighted to have director and Into Film Ambassador Sir Kenneth Branagh officially open the Into Film Festival in Northern Ireland at a special screening of his new autobiographical film Belfast, which is released in cinemas across the UK on 21 January 2022.

Academy Award nominee Sir Kenneth, who is Northern Ireland Ambassador for Into Film, was joined by young actors Jude Hill and Lewis McAskie at the first Festival event of 2021, held at Movie House Cityside in Belfast, where they encouraged young people to tell their own stories.

"Everyone has a unique, special story that's just theirs. And it's important to me that those stories get told, because everyone is different and that's what makes things interesting," Sir Kenneth said to 200 young people and their teachers at the special screening of his new film, which is based on his own childhood growing up in Belfast.

Storybuilder Resource

For those based in Northern Ireland who want to encourage young people to follow Sir Kenneth's advice and tell their stories, you can download our Story Builder resource.

Story Builder is a writing tool developed by our team in Northern Ireland, which captures pupils' imaginations and allows them space to create and build their own stories as if developing a film. Free to download, Story Builder allows pupils to work alone or collaboratively to develop characters, build their story arc, decide on settings and design their very own movie posters.

"Northern Ireland people are renowned for amazing story-telling and Sir Kenneth Branagh encouraged the students to express themselves. Every person has a story to tell and we developed Story Builder to help young people find their voice and get their stories out into the world", said Into Film Project Delivery Officer Naomh Cullen.