Bafta blow for Kneecap as movie loses five out of six categories: Only win for Republican rappers' film was English director picking up Best British Newcomer gong
Kneecap suffered another blow yesterday (16th) when their movie lost five out of six Bafta awards it was up for.
The Republican rappers, who recently issued a foul-mouthed statement after their movie was snubbed by the Oscars, were hopefuls in categories such as Best British Film and Best Original Screenplay.
The Belfast band made a big show of going to the awards ceremony, releasing a short video that mocked up part of the Houses of Parliament being covered with their trademark tricolour balaclava along with the slogan: “Swap you six Baftas for the six counties”.
But they left with only one trophy to the movie’s name – its director, Englishman Rich Peppiatt, walking away with the gong for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer.
Peppiatt’s win came after he publicly stated the movie is “an Irish film, not a British one”.
His comments came at the end of last week at Ireland’s equivalent of the Baftas, the Iftas, where Kneecap’s movie won four out of 17 categories in which it was nominated.
However, the movie is officially a co-production between Britain and Ireland, with large amounts of the budget coming from sources such as the UK’s National Lottery and the British Film Institute.
The members of Kneecap – Liam Og O Hannaidh, Naoise O Caireallain and JJ O Dochartaigh – walked the red carpet ahead of the Bafta ceremony in London alongside their film's director, with O Dochartaigh sporting a suit coloured to look like an Irish flag.
Ahead of the ceremony O Caireallain, also known as Moglai Bap, told the PA news agency that winning the Outstanding British Film category would make the rappers “very proud”.
They failed in that ambition, the award going instead to papal succession drama Conclave.
Kneecap’s picture, also called Kneecap, similarly failed to get the Editing, Casting, Film Not In The English Language, and Original Screenplay awards it was up for.
Despite losing out on so many awards, Sinn Fein hailed the Baftas and Iftas as a success for the band.
West Belfast MLA Aisling Reilly said the trio “have revolutionised the Irish language”, putting it “at the forefront of the global stage”.
The movie, a broad comedy with explicit sex and drug scenes, shows a highly fictionalised version of Kneecap’s own story, blending fact with exaggeration and pure fabrication – for example, Moglai Bap’s father is portrayed as an IRA man, when in truth he was a respected Irish language playwright.
It was put forward as Ireland’s official entry to the Oscars; despite being longlisted for the Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Film and Best Song categories, it failed to gain any actual nominations.
After issuing a foul-mouthed statement at the time, the band have since claimed the snub was a politically motivated move over their pro-Palestine stance.
Despite being very vocal about the conflict between Israel and Palestine, however, the band angered many left-wing fans last year when they broke an anti-Israel boycott to play an English music festival run by powerful promoters.
Half of the acts booked for the Great Escape last May pulled out as it was sponsored by a firm with financial ties to arms manufacturers that supply the Israeli military – but Kneecap performed anyway, leading to accusations of hypocrisy.