CREATORS of the award-winning Irish-language film Kneecap have said they “will go again” after missing out on two Academy Awards nominations.
The nominations for the 97th Oscars were announced on Thursday afternoon with Kneecap narrowly missing out in the Best Interantional Feature category and Best Original Song for ‘Sick in the Head’.
During an exclusive viewing party in Belfast’s Maddens Bar, which appears in two scenes in the film, director Rich Peppiatt said he was disappointed by the snub but “extremely proud” of the success the film has seen since its release last summer.
“We’re disappointed obviously but at the same time the Oscars are the Champions League of film so to fall at the final hurdle still makes us very proud,” he told The Irish News.
“For a small independent film shot in Belfast to have even made it to the shortlist is an achievement far beyond what we ever expected when we were sitting in the Hawthorne pub dreaming about making a movie.”
The film, which tells a semi-fictionalised tale of the Irish language rap trio’s rise to fame previously won seven gongs at British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) in December, including Best British Independent Film.
The Oscar snub comes just one week after picking up six nominations at the BAFTAs including Best British Film.
“We’re going to go again, we’ll make another film – hopefully in the not-too-distant future,” added producer Trevor Birney.
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“When I started on this project, I thought maybe it would get into the QFT or a couple of screenings in the Kennedy Centre, I really didn’t know how it was going to be received or how far it would travel.
“We didn’t know if an audience outside Belfast never mind Ireland would respond to it but this is a film that at the moment is being seen in hundreds of cinemas around the world.
“No matter about awards, no matter about Oscars – don’t get me wrong we wanted today to go another way, but it didn’t but for me I take great pride in what we’ve achieved, and I hope we can build on that.”
The film opened in cinemas in August and had the biggest weekend opening for any homegrown film at the Irish box office since 2022′s Oscar-nominated The Banshees of Inisherin.
It is the hope of both Rich and Trevor that the success Kneecap has seen since its release will inspire the next generation of filmmakers in the north.
“Hopefully there are young filmmakers in the north who are encouraged by Kneecap to take risks and come up with their own stories,” Rich explained.
“You can do it, no one ever thought a film about three rappers that globally no one had ever heard of, rapping in a language no one really speaks would be a global hit and it has been.”
Trevor added: “I hope the local indigenous community can take great heart and inspiration from the fact a story about our language and our culture and what we stand for has been so well received.
“We need more disrupters like Rich and the Kneecap boys that are going to continue to shake things up.”
