Kneecap film: Irish language rappers head stateside for Sundance

Controversy. Hip-hop. The Irish language. That's the Kneecap story and now a movie inspired by the origins of the west Belfast rap group is taking that tale to one of the world's biggest film festivals.

Kneecap, which features the band alongside Academy Award nominee Michael Fassbender, will become the first Irish language film to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.

It will be screened in the NEXT section on the festival's opening night on Thursday.

Filmed in Belfast and Dundalk, director Rich Peppiatt summed it up succinctly: "It's definitely more controversial than the usual movies that come out of Northern Ireland."

Set in west Belfast in 2019, the film is a semi-fictionalised account of how the group was formed amid a growing demand for Irish language protections in Northern Ireland.

The idea for a film was first conceived in 2019 when Peppiatt watched the group perform in Belfast.

The former tabloid journalist, whose first film One Rogue Reporter saw him take on editors and prominent UK media figures over ethical concerns, said he was "blown away" by the band's "energy, authenticity and [the] rawness of what they were doing".

He said he wasn't aware of a community of Belfast young people "who were living their lives through the Irish language".

"And to me that was really interesting with the backdrop of the Irish Language Act and Stormont being collapsed, I just thought there was a really interesting synergy between those two things," he told BBC News NI.

He approached the band, pitching the concept of a Kneecap film, but the group were slow to respond.

"Obviously, when somebody is writing to you saying 'I want to do a film about you', you kind of ignore him because we used to get a lot of crazy messages off people, so we didn't actually believe him for six months," rapper Móglaí Bap explained.

The band eventually agreed to meet with Peppiatt, finding him to be a "class director", and what followed was four years of collaboration and a close friendship.

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The starting point for the film was "a lot of time spent in pubs", talking to the group and "trying to work out what their story is", Pepiatt added.

Móglaí Bap recalled that the director "had no preconceptions" on Irish or Belfast culture, but relied on the band to show him how to represent it - a move the rapper said was "very refreshing".

Band member Mo Chara added that Peppiatt understood they needed to be "hands-on with it, because he's not from Belfast".

"You can tell, if someone writes a script and they're not from Belfast, the terminology they use just doesn't land right, if you're watching it on screen it just comes across as kind of cringey," masked bandmate DJ Próvaí continued.

One of the band's first stipulations of making the film was that it had to be shot in Irish, Peppiatt explained, and within days of their first meeting he had signed up to Irish classes.

Two years later, he earned his fáinne - a pin badge indicating a level of fluency in the language.

Now, the film's acceptance to Sundance - an internationally recognised showcase for independent cinema - marks a huge step forward for the project.

Kneecap is the first non-US film to ever be selected for the festival's NEXT section, and it is set to become the second Irish language film to make waves stateside in as many years following the success of Oscar-nominated An Cailín Ciúin.

"I think the Irish film industry is in the ascendancy," Pepiatt said. "It's right up there - there's a real desire to do the best work and push boundaries here."

Simone Kirby and Josie Walker also star in the film, as does German-Irish actor Michael Fassbender, whose involvement in the project sent "a rocket up the whole thing".

"Michael got sent the script on a bit of a wing and a prayer, and he came back saying he loved it and wanted to be involved," Pepiatt explained.

"He's one of the finest character actors of his generation, when you're standing at the monitor watching him perform you can tell why because he's so in control, so highly aware and present."

Móglaí Bap added: "He played Bobby Sands in Hunger, so he had a connection there with the whole story of the north."

The three-piece have faced disapproval and censorship for their politically-charged lyrics and ease with controversy - they've previously admitted they like "to get people riled up"

But that hasn't stopped them gaining a following both in Ireland and overseas.

"We don't get enough criticism," Mo Chara joked. "Everybody's too nice."

Peppiatt said he thinks the band's arguments "are very nuanced" and, upon starting the project, he was prepared "to face criticism [with] whatever we do".

"Kneecap are decisive, maybe unfairly so," he said.

"As a band [they] have caused a lot of controversy because they are very head-on and pull no punches on giving their opinion and view on the past and the future direction of travel here.

"If we were going to make this film we said we'd do it in a way that was true to that spirit, really being very honest and representing a viewpoint of young people that is often pushed aside amid DUP and Sinn Féin arguments."

"Yes, it does say some things that nobody else has dared to say, and say them in controversial and challenging ways, but that's what art is about," he added.

Móglaí Bap continued: "There's a lot of playfulness and a lot fun and craic, if you're offended by it then you're just not getting the joke."

"It's very easy for politicians to go to a paper and give a quote about what they think we're doing, we didn't establish sectarianism and we're not fuelling it either.

"We're not creating art for controversy's sake, we live in a place where people are quite easily offended by certain topics.

"We don't set out for that, it's the same thing when you're speaking the Irish language in the north, that it's [perceived as] some sort of political statement. But we're just trying to build a youth culture around the language."

That's a sentiment shared by director Pepiatt, who is hoping audiences "realise it's not something spoken by a few farmers out in the countryside".

"We're very proud of what we've produced and it's amazing to be a little part of cinema history bringing the film to Sundance."