Oscars: Ireland Submits ‘Kneecap’ For 2025 Best International Feature Film Category
The Irish Film & Television Academy has selected Irish language feature Kneecap to represent Ireland in the International Feature Film category of the 97th annual Academy Awards.
Set in West Belfast in 2019, the drama revolves around a hip hop trio who rap in their native Irish language, to create their own genre of Irish punk rap, melding the Irish and English language with electrifying energy.
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The film, written and directed by Rich Peppiatt (One Rogue Reporter), stars the members of the West Belfast rap trio Kneecap, Móglai Bap, Mo Chara, and DJ Provaí alongside an ensemble cast including nominee Michael Fassbender, Simone Kirby, Josie Walker, Fionnuala Flaherty, Jessica Reynolds and Adam Best.
Kneecap was selected by IFTA’s 2024 Selection Committee, which includes nominated actor Stephen Rea (The Crying Game, The English); award-winning directors Colm Bairéad (The Quiet Girl) and Lisa Mulcahy (Lies We Tell, Ridley Road); award-winning actors Liam Cunningham (Game of Thrones, Hunger) and Bríd Ní Neachtain (Róise & Frank, The Banshees of Inisherin); and award-winning producer Rebecca O’Flanagan (Flora & Son, Viva).
Kneecap was produced by Trevor Birney and Jack Tarling for Fine Point Films and Mother Tongues Films, with Patrick O’Neill at Wildcard acting as Co-Producer.
Funding for the film was provided by Northern Ireland Screen, the Irish Language Broadcast Fund, Fís éireann / Screen Ireland, the BFI, Coimisiún na Meán and TG4, Dias Feld and Kamila Serkebaeva, with backing from Great Point Media.
Sony Pictures Classics are releasing Kneecap in the U.S. on August 2, and it will hit Irish cinemas from Wildcard Distribution on August 8. Curzon will release the film in the UK on August 28.
Recent Irish entries for the Best International Feature Film category have included the Irish-language The Quiet Girl, which was nominated for the 2023 awards, and the Spanish-language Viva which was Oscar shortlisted in the 2016 contest.
“The Irish Academy is delighted to announce Kneecap to represent Ireland in the Oscar International Feature Film category. What a brilliantly creative powerhouse of a film, with its bold and fearless storytelling and its raw and boisterous screen performances,” said IFTA Academy CEO, áine Moriarty.
“Nowhere before has filmmaking brought together the Irish language and music in such rebellious and youthful defiance. We have no doubt that Kneecap will both surprise and entertain international audiences, and ultimately leave its unique mark on international Academy Members too”.
Kneecap made history earlier this year as the first Irish-language film to world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.
“Since the start of the year when Kneecap premiered in Sundance we’ve been humbled by the grá the film has received around the world. But nothing hits quite like the reception we’ve had at home in Ireland. To get the opportunity to represent our nation on the biggest film stage of them all is an absolute privilege. Míle Buíochas (thanks a million) to IFTA and everyone who’s been part of and supported our wee film,” sad writer and director Rich Peppiatt.
Under the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences rules for its 97th Academy Awards, Best International Feature Film submissions must have been theatrically released in their home country after November 1, 2023, and no later than September 30, 2024 for at least seven consecutive days.
The deadline for submission is 5 p.m. PT on October 2, 2024. The 97th Academy Awards ceremony will take place on March 2, 2025.
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