Kneecap wins top awards at Galway Film Fleadh

The Belfast Irish hip-hop trio biopic Kneecap has swept three awards at the 36th edition of the Galway Film Fleadh.

Directed by Rich Peppiatt, the film had its Irish premiere at the festival, which concluded last night.

It won the awards for Best Irish Film and Best Irish Language Film categories, as well as the Audience award – becoming the first feature to take home all three.

Based on the origin story of the groundbreaking Irish-language rap trio, Kneecap stars group members Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap and DJ Próvaí as themselves – alongside Academy Award-nominated actor Michael Fassbender, Simone Kirby, Jessica Reynolds, Fionnuala Flaherty and Josie Walker.

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Following its Irish release, the film will be shown in worldwide cinemas from next month. It is also rumoured to become Ireland’s Oscars submission for the international feature category later this year.

It met major success during its world premiere in January at Sundance Film Festival, where it won the NEXT Audience Award – the first Irish language to do so.

Last week, the film’s director Rich Peppiatt and its producer Trevor Birney announced the launch of their own Belfast-based production company Coup d’état Films.

KNEECAP’s latest album Fine Art debuted at No. 2 on Official Irish charts last month, receiving an 8/10 from Hot Press.