Irish-language music biopic “ Kneecap ” has dominated the awards on home soil at the 36th edition of the Galway Film Fleadh, which concluded last night on the west coast of Ireland. The film, which caused a stir in Sundance earlier this year where it was picked up by Sony Pictures Classics, won three out of a possible three awards it qualified for in Galway, where it had its Irish premiere as the festival opener. It won best Irish film, best Irish language feature film and the audience award, a feat not achieved before in the Fleadh’s 36-year history.
From writer-director Rich Peppiatt, “Kneecap” follows the wild coming together and rise of real-life Belfast hip hop trio Kneecap — all playing themselves, alongside Michael Fassbender in a supporting role — in a story awash in sex, drugs, music and politics that is both anarchic and a rallying cry for the defense of native cultures and languages. Produced by Trevor Birney, Jack Tarling and Patrick O’Neill, the film is set to open across the U.S.
on Aug. 2 and is now hotly-tipped to become Ireland’s Oscar submission for the international feature category. “For a film as dyed in the tricolor as ‘Kneecap,’ the Irish premiere was always going to be special and the audiences in Galway have blown us away,” said Peppiatt.
“To be honored in the way we have at this beautiful festival is something we’ll never forget. Go raibh míle maith agat the Fleadh.” Added Birney: “This is a huge endorsement, not o.
