Details
Celebrated cinephile Mark Cousins returns with this dreamlike evocation of Belfast, with a powerful soundtrack by great Belfast DJ and film composer David Holmes.
★★★★ “A complex and heartfelt evocation of a divided city” – Sophie Monks Kaufman, Little White Lies
★★★★ “Cousins’ approach summons a portrait of great colour, complexity and originality” – Kevin Harley, Total Film
In this dreamlike evocation of Belfast from director Mark Cousins (The Story of Film: An Odyssey, Here Be Dragons) the city is a 10,000-year-old lady who takes us on an emotional journey through her rich, complex and often tragic history.
Beautifully photographed by Wong Kar-Wais cinematographer Christopher Doyle and boasting a dramatic soundtrack from Belfast-born DJ and composer David Holmes, the film skilfully weaves through the dream life of the city, mapping the voices of women and the liminal spaces, the unnoticed and the unloved things of the place — before her story deepens.
I Am Belfast highlights Cousins influences, inherently cinematic, but all the while underscored by the influence of the grandparents, the mothers, the brothers and the women of the city he comes from. What he achieves is a politically engaged and inventive love letter to the city he calls home.