Irish-language cinema has bright future despite Oscars snub, says Kneecap director

Kneecap writer-director Richard Peppiatt (left) and producer Trevor Birney join members of the cast and crew of the movie Kneecap for a screening of the Oscar nominations at Madden's Bar in Belfast.

Hollywood may not have been quite ready to see Kneecap “walking down the red carpet smoking a joint” but the makers of the comedy biopic about the hip-hop trio say it has shown there is a “bright future” for Irish-language cinema and an indigenous industry in Belfast.

The producers of the film — which is named after the group — and their family and friends turned out to watch the Academy Awards nominations announcement in Madden’s bar in Belfast with the band tuning in on Zoom from London, where they are recording a new album.

Richard Peppiatt, the film’s director, said: “They didn’t get their big moment. I am not ecstatic, but we’ve achieved far beyond what we could have expected a year ago.

“It’s a controversial film, but we will go again and next time we will get there. We have the Baftas and Iftas to come. I think this is an amazing moment for the local, indigenous industry. Maybe Tom Hanks [and other Hollywood grandees] wasn’t ready for Kneecap smoking a joint on the red carpet,” he added.

Based loosely on the real lives of the west Belfast rap trio, it had been shortlisted in the best international feature award category and best original song for Sick in the Head at the upcoming 97th Oscars but missed out on both.

The comedy film has been described as “one of the buzziest indie films of 2024” by the Hollywood bible Variety, but the band will never know whether their blunt messages about young working-class people in a post-Troubles city (including pro-Palestinian positions) affected their chances.

Ainle Ó Cairealláin said his brother Naoise, the member of Kneecap who goes by the stage name Móglaí Bap, would be disappointed but their efforts to promote the Irish language would not change.

“The lads are carrying a strong message, it’s a message about the Irish language, it’s about colonisation, it’s about young people’s lives here in a post-conflict era. 

They’ve also been very outspoken about Palestine and tending the occupation there and the genocide and I’m sure that ruffles a few feathers. But they are not going to compromise on that and that is the right thing to do.

Peppiatt added: “We’ve still got the impetus, we’re still having fun, we don’t take it too seriously, we’re making films here, not curing cancer. Ultimately all these accolades are just a nice little candle on the cake.” 

The film has been nominated for six Baftas next month, including outstanding British film, and has landed 17 nominations for the Iftas.

Trevor Birney, an investigative journalist and film producer who teamed up with Peppiatt, a former Daily Star journalist, to make the film joked that there would be a sequel but that it would be “20 years” before it saw the light of day.

He said he believed “this is a moment of celebration” for the Irish language and for funders who had the courage to back the film, including the Irish-language broadcast fund in Northern Ireland, Screen Ireland and TG4.  

“It takes a village to make a film. All of this showcases the talent that is here in Belfast.

Guardian