Irish language box office hit Kneecap has emerged as the big winner of this year’s British Independent Film Awards (BIFA), with the film earning seven awards including Best British Independent Film.
Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh, Naoise Ó Cairealláin, and JJ Ó Dochartaigh of Kneecap received the award for Best Joint Lead Performance, while writer, producer, director Rich Peppiatt won the Best Debut Screenwriter award.
Chiwetel Ejiofor presented the award for Best British Independent Film to Kneecap, with Rich Peppiat’s comedy following the west Belfast hip-hop trio and their mission to save their mother tongue beating out Element Pictures’ On Becoming A Guinea Fowl and Saoirse Ronan-produced The Outrun in the category.
On the red carpet, Naoise Ó Cairealláin (a.k.a. Móglaí Bap), spoke about why they felt the film had resonated with audiences: "There's a lot of people who suffered under imperialism and colonialism and a lot of people see themselves in the story of it. Minority languages, minority cultures getting their shake at the stake."
Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh (a.k.a. Mo Chara) added: "We thought it was a film about the Irish language, but languages that have been oppressed is an international story and a lot of people related to it. Minority groups, such as Native Americans and Aboriginal Australians, can see themselves in the story.”
These wins build on the film’s earlier sweep in the craft categories, where it secured BIFA honours last month for Best Casting (Carla Stronge), Best Editing (Julian Ulrichs & Chris Gill), Best Original Music (Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante), and Best Music Supervision (Gary Welch & Jeanette Rehnstrom).
Other Irish winners on the night included Jessie Buckley, who was among the Wicked Little Letters cast named for Best Ensemble Performance. Buckley starred alongside Olivia Colman, Anjana Vasan, Joanna Scanlan, Gemma Jones, Malachi Kirby, Lolly Adefope, Eillen Atkins, Timothy Spall, and Hugh Skinner.
Element Pictures’ On Becoming a Guinea Fowl also saw Rungano Nyoni pick up Best Director, marking her third BIFA win following Best Director and The Douglas Hickox Award in 2017 for I Am Not a Witch, while newcomer Susan Chardy won the Breakthrough Performance award.
Christopher Andrews received this year’s Douglas Hickox Award (Best Debut Director) for his upcoming Irish drama Bring Them Down, which sees two families at war with each other amid the harsh landscape of rural west Ireland, and stars Christopher Abbott and Barry Keoghan. Barry Keoghan also missed out to his co-star Franz Rogowski in the Best Supporting Performance category for their performances in Andrea Arnold’s fifth feature, Bird.
For Kneecap, these latest accolades help continue to build momentum towards the upcoming 97th annual Academy Awards, with the Irish language film selected by IFTA to represent Ireland in the Oscar® International Feature Film category.
The film, written and directed by Rich Peppiatt (One Rogue Reporter), stars the members of the West Belfast rap trio Kneecap (Móglaí Bap, Mo Chara, and DJ Próvaí) alongside an ensemble cast including Oscar® nominee Michael Fassbender, Simone Kirby, Josie Walker, Fionnuala Flaherty, Jessica Reynolds, and Adam Best.
Set in West Belfast in 2019, when fate brings Belfast schoolteacher JJ into the orbit of Naoise and Liam Óg, the needle drops on a hip hop act like no other. Rapping in their native Irish language, the trio create their own genre of Irish punk rap, melding the Irish and English language with electrifying energy. Their writing and performance reimagine what rap can be as a creative and cultural force, rooted in community. Kneecap ultimately become the unlikely figureheads of a Civil Rights movement to save their mother tongue, upending preconceptions about language and place and spearheading a cultural revival and interest from their legions of young followers.
Kneecap was produced by Trevor Birney and Jack Tarling for Fine Point Films and Mother Tongues Films, with Patrick O'Neill at Wildcard acting as Co-Producer. Funding for the film was provided by Northern Ireland Screen, the Irish Language Broadcast Fund, Fís Éireann / Screen Ireland, the BFI (awarding National Lottery funding), Coimisiún na Meán and TG4, Dias Feld and Kamila Serkebaeva, with backing from Great Point Media.
The film had its World Premiere at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival in January this year, where it won a NEXT Audience Award, the first Irish language film to win at the festival. It went on to play at Sundance London, and was the opening film of Galway Film Fleadh, where it won three prizes including the Audience Award.
Kneecap is available to stream on Amazon Prime.
