Troubles victims' group SEFF slams BIFA film awards for Belfast rap band Kneecap

A film about the Belfast trio has won seven gongs at the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) 2024 including Best British Independent Film.

The band in question – Kneecap – names itself after the traditional paramilitary-style attack on teenagers in west Belfast, in which a bullet is fired into the knee.

In some cases the victim died, in some cases they lost a leg, in many cases they walked with a limp ever after, but also carried deep psychological scars – some taking their own lives as a result.

It is estimated that terror groups carried out over 6,100 paramilitary style attacks from 1973 to 2016 – the vast majority on male children and youths in their 20s.

Some 3,113 attacks were by loyalists and 2,993 by republicans.

The band prides itself for promoting republican ideology on social media and criticising the UK and unionism.

Kneecap also won Best Debut Screenwriter for Rich Peppiatt, Best Joint Lead for the trio's members Liam Og O Hannaidh, Naoise O Caireallain and JJ O Dochartaigh, Best Casting, Best Editing, Best Original Music, and Best Music Supervision, at the ceremony at London's Roundhouse.

The comedy movie, which also stars Oscar-nominated actor Michael Fassbender, follows the Belfast group on their mission to save their mother tongue through music, and is directed by Peppiatt.

It comes after the group won their discrimination court battle against former business secretary and now Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch, after the UK government conceded it was “unlawful” to refuse them a £14,250 Music Export Growth Scheme funding award.

But Kenny Donaldson, whose victims’ group South East Fermanagh Foundation supports both Catholic and Protestant victims of Troubles violence, objected to the ethos of the band.

“Our work in the last 12 months has seen us directly engage with young people inside and outside the education system,” he said.

“We have taught them what happens when a political ideology is taken to its extreme; there should be no place within this society to sanitise and rebrand ‘the Troubles’ nor the devastating impact it had upon so many people.

“Parents and guardians need to ensure that their children are not having their minds moulded and corrupted by messages conveyed by ‘the Kneecap group’.

“We are conscious that the Kneecap group revels in publicity and we had to deeply consider whether or not to issue comment,” he added.

“The group is viewed by many as divisive. They are a souped-up version of the Wolfe Tones and cannot cling to a veneer of satire.

“Young people are crying out for positive role models. Sadly, that is not what Kneecap is.

“They are misrepresenting the Troubles that they had limited exposure to – thankfully by virtue of their age.

“But their pronouncements can have a deeply damaging effect upon those who were directly impacted.

“The British Independent Film Awards portrays itself as ‘offering a voice got talent overlooked by the mainstream’

“But they have willingly facilitated the turning of a noble objective into providing Kneecap with a platform for propaganda.”