'Kneecap' director Rich Peppiatt: 'The hegemony of English is making people more monolingual'

One of our favourite films this year is Kneecap, a funny, raucous and heartfelt music biopic unlike any other.

It chronicles the beginnings of Northern Irish hip-hop group Kneecap, composed of Móglaí Bap, Mo Chara and DJ Próvaí - who also released their debut album ‘Fine Art’ this year. The band use the Irish language to tackle socio-political issues and are unlike anything you’ve ever heard.

English writer-director and former journalist Rich Peppiatt teamed up with the three rappers for his feature debut, a fictionalised origin story / docudrama that tells the story about growing up in post-Troubles Belfast. With the rappers playing themselves, no less.

The band uses lyrics to directly protest the English rule of Northern Ireland and the suppression of their linguistic heritage; the film uses the band to tell the importance of preserving indigenous languages and cultures threatened by colonisation.

The film is not only one of the most exciting music biopics in years – we said it understands that “smarts and laughs needn’t be mutually exclusive” in our review - but also became the first Irish language film to ever screen at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. There, it won the Audience Award, and since then, bagged seven British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) - including Best British Independent Film – and is Ireland’s pick for Best International Feature at next year’s Oscars.

Talk about the foul-mouthed film that could.

Euronews Culture caught up with Rich Peppiatt at this year’s European Film Awards to talk about his mad year and the gambit of an Englishman telling this unique story.  

Euronews Culture: It's been one hell of a year for the actual band Kneecap, but also for you – your first feature film debuting at