Kenneth Branagh's love letter to home town Belfast one of big winners at IFTAs

Forthcoming Irish-language drama An Cailín Ciúin was the top winner on the night, picking up eight awards including Best Film and Lead Actress for its 12-year-old star Catherine Clinch.

The movie - to be released in cinemas soon - centres on a girl in 1980s Ireland who spends a memorable summer with relatives.

RTÉ's big-budget crime series Kin was judged the best of the year, picking up several awards including Best Drama, Best Actress for Clare Dunne and Best Actor for Sam Keeley.

The series telling of the exploits of top crime family the Kinsellas also won Maria Doyle-Kennedy a nod for Supporting Actress.

Northern Irish actor Ciarán Hinds was a double IFTA winner at the awards, which was hosted by Deirdre O'Kane and presented virtually.

As well as his performance as a fearsome mob boss in Kin, Hinds was also celebrated for his role as a loving granddad in the emotional movie Belfast. He's also been nominated for an Oscar for his role in the film.

Hinds praised Kenneth Branagh's script - also an IFTA winner - and film for reconnecting him to his roots: "This film Ken wrote touched me very deeply. As much as the story was of Ken's childhood it was also the story of my childhood, and the people I knew, and the community and the wonderful, wry-humoured, stoic people of the north of Ireland."

Branagh joined the show from the New Mexico set of Christopher Nolan's WW2 drama Oppenheimer to accept the Screenplay nod for Belfast.

Branagh said: "My homeland gave me a hell of a story to tell and has been very patient in waiting for 50 years until I could tell it.

"People from up and down the island have responded with such deep-hearted appreciation to a story that it seems many of us share through our very own family experiences."

Killarney actress Jessie Buckley - who's also been shortlisted for an Oscar later this month - won Best Supporting Actress for her role in Netflix movie The Lost Daughter, in which she played a younger version of Olivia Colman's character.

"Thank you so much, this is so lovely," she said. "Thanks, IFTA. It's not mine, it's all of ours, you are all amazing women, I'm so proud to stand beside you now and all of our life."

Buckley thanked her director Maggie Gyllenhaal before signing off with a tribute to her fellow actresses, saying: "Long live the brilliant women."

Moe Dunford won Best Actor for his lead role on Nightride, which was recently acquired by Netflix.

The crime thriller was shot in Belfast and stars Dunford as a drug dealer trying to secure one last deal.

US documentary maker Michael Moore presented the George Morrison Feature Documentary Award to the makers of Young Plato.