Kenneth Branagh has produced *Into the Breach*, a new documentary co-created by Freddie Fox and Richard Fullerton that brings together some of British theatre's most celebrated performers, including Judi Dench, Anthony Hopkins, Ian McKellen, Gary Oldman and Helen Mirren. The film explores the postwar golden age of British stage acting and its enduring influence on cinema, premiering at the Telluride Film Festival with screenings beginning Sunday at the Sheridan Opera House and the Backlot.

The documentary features personal recollections, such as Dench describing how stars like Richard Burton and John Neville were treated with rock-star adulation before the Beatles era, and how her casting opposite John Gielgud shaped her career. It also traces theatre's links to film, noting that Hopkins's stage role in Pravda at the National Theatre led director Jonathan Demme to cast him as Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs. A roundtable discussion staged at the Old Vic, hosted by Branagh and featuring Dench, Hopkins, Oldman, director Richard Eyre and National Theatre chief Indhu Rubasingham, delves into theatre's role in driving political and social change, including McKellen's account of campaigning for gay rights.