As it has been nominated for seven Oscars, it's safe to say Kenneth Branagh's 'Belfast' has certainly put the north of the city on the map.
In the acclaimed film, Branagh goes right back to his own early years in the Mountcollyer area of North Belfast, just off York Road. Although it's semi-autobiographical, with some parts changed, it shows the area through the eyes of a nine-year-old as The Troubles erupt in 1969.
Growing up at 96 Mountcollyer Street, Kenneth Branagh has often spoken about his happy early years in Belfast. He grew up in a terraced house with his older brother Bill and parents, Frances and William.
The street he lived in is still there, however it looks very different compared to back then. In the lower part of the street, new houses have been built facing the park he would often play in, Alexandra Park, while the upper end of the street where he resided is now wasteland.
A young Kenneth Branagh attended nearby Grove Primary School, leaving for a new life in England when he was just nine.
Liz McCabrey also attended the school and was born in the same year as Branagh, however she was born in April 1960 and he in December, meaning they were in different school years.
Watching the film 'Belfast', Liz said it was difficult to watch at times as it hit very close to home.
"I thought it was an amazing movie, but I felt like I could've got up and walked out during the first half," she told Belfast Live.
"I think that's purely being down to being in the thick of it, and experiencing what the movie was going through. I have a brother and a sister, and it just mirrored our experiences at the time.
"We lived on North Queen Street at the corner of the Limestone Road, there's a church in the spot now where our terraced house was. Many a night my dad had to carry us out of the house as children, taking us to relatives four or five streets away, which was safer than where we were. Then we would have to get up and go into school the next morning like everything was fine.
"I have four grandkids now, and I'm glad they don't have to go through what I did."
Liz added that the film was "very true to the time", down to the set up of the houses in the area. One thing that the film does well, she added, is that it highlights the importance family had back then, and how home became a truly safe space for many.
The 61-year-old continued: "The housing set up is just as I remembered it. We lived in a terraced house, with the three bedrooms, scullery, and the living room. As much as it was difficult growing up at that time, my family home couldn't have been better. You may not have felt safe outside, but you always felt safe in your home.
"The part the movie showed which was very true to the time was you did have extended family support. It wasn't just the mum, dad, and kids, we had aunties and uncles who lived two streets away, we had more who lived another couple of streets from us.
"You never felt isolated, that it was just you and your parents that were coping in that situation. You did have a big family network around you, that when things did get tough where we lived, we always had somewhere to go to."
Although Grove Primary School has since been demolished, and all that remains is wasteland and the distinctive blue school gates, Liz said the school always had a great sense of community around it.
"Kenneth was the year below me at school," Liz added.
"But the school was a very community based place in that everybody knew each other. You always did know people who were the same year, below you, or older than you.
"There was a lot of coming and going in the school around that time. I'm sure Kenneth's family weren't the only ones who left for the same reason. I do remember him as a child, but I wouldn't have been close to him."
Lesley-Ann Brown's grandmother Harriet Breen owned a shop on Glencollyer Street, around the corner from the Branagh house on Mountcollyer. The small grocers, Harriet's, even featured in the 'Belfast' film which blew Lesley away.
She said: "Back when he was writing his biography he mentioned the shop, Harriet's. The shop is in the film so when we went to see it, I was like 'holy god, that's us on the silver screen!'
"In the book he calls the shop 'the source of local knowledge' and she was all bizz about it, but I was like 'Nana, that means you're a gossip, that's not a good thing!'"
Lesley-Ann now owns The Alexandra Florist on York Road, the back of which faces directly onto the site of Harriet's, however new homes are now in place there. Harriet's was a community shop that all the locals would have frequented on a daily basis, including the Branaghs.
"When I saw the film I thought it was brilliant that he remembered the shop," Lesley added.
"It was a grocers and it's not that long down, it was there until about a year ago. The family lived upstairs with the shop on the bottom. My granny had four children. My uncles would have been the same sort of age as Kenneth, and went to primary school with him, and they all would have went to the park for a run about together.
"It was a tiny shop, and not only did Harriet, Jim, and four kids live there, it was a big part of the community. Money was tight, so they operated a system where you got your shopping all week, then when you got paid on a Friday you went around and paid your bill.
"Kenneth would have been running into the shop during the week to pick up wee bits, and would've said 'my mummy said I have to get' whatever it is, and Harriet would write that down to keep a note for the end of the week. Everybody looked out for each other during those hard times."
Adding that she thought the film was "amazing," Lesley-Ann was impressed that Branagh had remembered so many details from his early childhood in the city.
One aspect in particular, which she said she "hadn't heard anyone say in 40 years" was his reference to the kids squeezing through a 'bendy bar' into Alexandra Park. This is where kids in the area would have pushed the bars on the park gate to be able to squeeze through and play, even when the park was closed.
Lesley-Ann added: "This movie really means something to us. Me, my two kids, my sister, and her husband all went to see it together, and we couldn't believe it.
"Grove School, the park, the bendy bar - we couldn't believe it. He's went off, had an amazing career, and this is still where his memories are. I haven't heard anyone saying 'bendy bar' in 40 years! It blew me away.
"I've spoken to countless people who lived in this area and they all loved it. He has all the finery in Hollywood, but still it all started off in North Belfast."
Adding that the city of Belfast has come on "leaps and bounds" from those dark days, Lesley said the film marks a good way to look back and remember what it was like back then, to see how different it is now.
"My kids have said they can't understand that Belfast was like that 50 years ago, and that we lived through it," she said.
"Belfast has come on leaps and bounds. Forty years ago, you weren't able to go into town, there were police checks everywhere. It's just amazing how far we've come."
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