Screening Date: 1 May 2025
Screening Time: 7pm
Release Date: 2024
Directors: Rich Peppiat
Country: Ireland
Running Time: 105mins
Rating: MA
Language: English, Irish Gaelic
When fate brings together disillusioned music teacher JJ with self-confessed ‘low life scumbags’ Naoise and Liam Og, the sound of Irish music is changed forever. It’s lively hip hop in native Irish!
In this cheeky film, a pretty ordinary band starts to mould the language of their lyrics to better reflect their tough, anarchic, hedonistic lives in Belfast 2019. Suddenly, language once encumbered with forty words for stone now has one for let’s get stoned. To get their music heard beyond their town, the trio must overcome the harassment and distaste of the local police, paramilitaries and politicians. Audiences aren’t exactly wild for them in the beginning either. It seems nobody wants the traditional Irish language in the public arena and certainly not as hip hop with the band Kneecap at the centre of it all. And what exactly does the band name refer to? Certainly nothing anyone in power wants to be reminded of. Sometimes you can be your own worst enemy as well. Family and relationship pressures mount up and their illegal exploits draw condemnation from all sides. They are rebels with a cause. Who knew that the very serious themes of language revival, cultural identity, and artistic expression could be so much fun?
Against the backdrop of Northern Ireland’s complex political landscape, the film blends elements of comedy and drama while simultaneously managing to breathe new life into the once downtrodden Irish language. “Taitneamh a bhaint as!”
“Bursting with unruly energy that practically escapes the confines of the screen, Kneecap is a riotous, drug-laced triumph in the name of freedom that bridges political substance and crowd-pleasing entertainment.” Carlos Aguilar, Variety
