BAFTA win for Screen Ireland-supported Kneecap and director Rich Peppiatt
Posted: 17th February 2025
Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland is delighted to congratulate director Rich Peppiatt and the entire creative team behind Kneecap, on the Irish film's BAFTA Film Award win at Sunday's ceremony.
Kneecap was awarded Best Outstanding Debut By A British Writer, Director or Producer for writer/director Rich Peppiatt. The film received 6 nominations at the EE BAFTA Film Awards this year, including Best Film Not in the English Language, marking the second Irish-language film in history to be nominated in the category, since An Cailín Ciúin (The Quiet Girl) first broke ground in 2023.
Based on the origin story of the riotous and ground-breaking Irish-language rap trio Kneecap, the film is set in west Belfast in 2019, chronicling how fate brings the trio together and how they then go on to “change the sound of Irish music forever”. The film received its World Premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January this year, where it became the first Irish-language film to win the Audience Award in the festival’s NEXT strand, and became the biggest winner at the British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs) in December.
Kneecap is produced by Jack Tarling and Trevor Birney for Fine Point Films and Mother Tongues Films, and Patrick O’Neill for Wildcard. 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, with backing from Great Point Media.