KNEECAP
Thursday, February 27 • 9:45 PM • T1
Dramatic Feature | Debut Narrative Feature | Award Winner | Oscar® Nominee
Screening generously sponsored by Mary & Martin Burns
When fate brings Belfast schoolteacher JJ into the orbit of self-confessed ‘low life scum’ Naoise & Liam Og, the needle drops on a hip hop act like no other. Rapping in their native Irish language, KNEECAP fast becomes the unlikely figureheads of a Civil Rights movement to save their mother tongue. But the trio must first overcome police, paramilitaries & politicians trying to silence their defiant sound - whilst their anarchic approach to life often makes them their own worst enemies. In this fiercely original sex, drugs and hip-hop biopic KNEECAP play themselves, laying down a global rallying cry for the defense of native cultures. DIR/SCR: Rich Peppiatt; PROD: Jack Tarling, Trevor Birney. Ireland, 2024, color, 105 min. In English and Irish with English subtitles. RATED R
DIR/SCR Rich Peppiatt; PROD Jack Tarling, Trevor Birney. Ireland, 2024, color, 105 min. In English and Irish with English subtitles. RATED R
AWARDS
2024 Winner British Independent Film Award, Best Debut Screenwriter, Rich Peppiatt; 2024 Winner British Independent Film Award, Best British Independent Film, Rich Peppiatt, Trevor Birney, Jack Tarling; 2024 Winner British Independent Film Award, Best Casting, sponsored by Casting Society & Spotlight, Carla Stronge; 2024 Nominee British Independent Film Award, Best Cinematography, sponsored by Kodak & Molinare, Ryan Kernaghan; 2024 Winner British Independent Film Award Best Editing, Julian Ulrichs, Chris Gill; 2024 Winner British Independent Film Award Best Music Supervision, Gary Welch, Jeanette Rehnstrom. 2024 Winner Galway Fleadh Audience Award, Best Irish Film, Best Irish Language Feature
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Rich Peppiatt is a writer & director working across film, TV and commercials. His debut narrative feature, Kneecap, had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. It was the first ever Irish language movie to play at the festival, going on to win the NEXT Audience Award. After playing at festivals including SXSW, Tribeca and Karlovy Vary, the film came home to Ireland at the Galway Fleadh, taking home a historic haul of honours in Best Irish Film, Best Irish Language Film and the Audience Award. At the 2024 BIFAs Kneecap won seven awards, including Best Film. It was also awarded Film of the Year by NME. Kneecap is Ireland’s entry for the 2025 Academy Awards. Rich’s debut feature documentary, One Rogue Reporter, was nominated for Best Independent Feature at the 2014 National Film Awards and released worldwide by Netflix.
The Capital Irish Film Festival is supported by the Government of Ireland Emigrant Support Programme, Culture Ireland, Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland, Embassy of Ireland, Northern Ireland Bureau, Northern Ireland Screen, and the Irish Film Institute’s IFI International Programme supported by Culture Ireland. Solas Nua is supported by the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities.
