Dublin actress Caitriona Blafe is tipped for Oscar glory for her star turn in Kenneth Brannagh's Belfast.
The actress stars alongside Jamie Dornan in Branagh’s semi-autobiographical film about his childhood in Northern Ireland.
Caitriona and Jamie play Ma and Pa, the parents of nine-year-old Buddy (based on Kenneth Branagh) who are faced with the choice of leaving the life they know in a troubled 1960s Northern Ireland or beginning a new life in England.
Shot in a moody black and white, the film also stars Ciarán Hinds and Judi Dench as well as newcomer Jude Hill.
Speaking about Belfast, Caitriona told British Vogue: "There’s a young generation who are coming up, who didn’t live through the Troubles, and there is again that kind of romanticism to having a cause and fighting for a cause.
"Maybe it’s too much to ask for a film to change people’s minds, but I think it’s important that people see it."
Born in Dublin and growing up in Monaghan near the border of Northern Ireland, Caitriona reminisced about the experience of crossing the border as a child.
She said: "I remember we used to go weekly shopping in the north and you would go through checkpoints at least once a week.
"We didn’t even really think about it until our cousins came up from the south and they would be terrified going through, because you’d have British soldiers with machine guns pointed at the car asking for your papers."
The 2022 Oscar nominations will be unveiled on February 8, with many predicting nominations for Belfast including Caitriona Balfe in the best-supporting-actress category.
Belfast arrives in Irish cinemas tomorrow, Friday January 21.
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