The Academy Awards shortlists 2025 were announced on Tuesday, December 17, and Belfast-based Irish language hip-hop trio Kneecap is in the running to land two major nominations
The group’s semi-autobiographical film “Kneecap” made the International Feature Film shortlist, while their song “Sick In The Head,” which featured in the “Kneecap” movie, made the shortlist for the Music (Original Song) category.
Ten films were shortlisted for the International Feature Film category, while 15 songs were shortlisted for the Original Song category.
“Easy peasy,” the group said on social media on Tuesday after the shortlists for ten of the major categories were announced.
Easy peasy 🔥
Any Belfast heads - less than 200 tickets left for Saturday’s SSE show 💥 pic.twitter.com/ZM4iFOnD6B
— KNEECAP (@KNEECAPCEOL) December 17, 2024
Speaking about being shortlisted on Tuesday, "Kneecap" writer and director Rich Peppiatt said: “If someone had walked into the pub in 2019 – back when me and Kneecap were still dreaming up what this movie could be – and they told us five years later we’d be in the running for Oscars®, we’d probably have asked for a blast on whatever they were smoking…
"It’s been a rollercoaster journey marked by a huge amount of hard graft and plenty good fun, and making it to that hallowed Hollywood red carpet would certainly be a grand way to finish it all off.”
Meanwhile, Kneecap member Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh (aka Mo Chara) discussed the trio’s impact on the Irish language on Tuesday, telling the Irish Times: “I don’t think we’re creating a movement. We’re building on what was already there around the Irish language revival in Belfast. We’re standing on the shoulders of giants.”
The movie "Kneecap" stars the members of the West Belfast rap trio Kneecap (Móglaí Bap, Mo Chara, and DJ Próvaí) alongside an ensemble cast including Oscar-nominee Michael Fassbender, Simone Kirby, Josie Walker, Fionnuala Flaherty, Jessica Reynolds and Adam Best.
A synopsis of the film says: "When fate brings Belfast schoolteacher JJ into the orbit of self-confessed ‘low life scum’ Naoise and Liam Og, the needle drops on a hip hop act like no other.
"Rapping in their native Irish language, Kneecap fast become the unlikely figureheads of a Civil Rights movement to save their mother tongue.
"But the trio must first overcome police, paramilitaries & politicians trying to silence their defiant sound - whilst their anarchic approach to life often makes them their own worst enemies.
"In this fiercely original sex, drugs and hip-hop biopic, Kneecap play themselves, laying down a global rallying cry for the defense of native cultures."
The film has enjoyed a successful year since its debut at the Sundance Film Festival in January, where it won an award and Sony Pictures Classics acquired all rights to the film for North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Turkey, and the Middle East.
The Oscars shortlists were announced the week after Kneecap dominated the British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs), winning seven prizes, including the top award, Best British Independent Film.
To qualify for the International Feature Film category at the Academy Awards, the movie must be more than 40 minutes long, produced outside of the US, and have a more than 50% non-English dialogue track.
Over the years, Ireland has put forward 11 films for consideration in the International Feature Film category. In 2015, the Irish film "Viva" made the shortlist, but did not secure an overall nomination. In 2023, "The Quiet Girl" / "An Cailín Ciúin" became the first Irish film to be nominated in the category.
In the Best Original Song category, Kneecap will be looking to follow in the footsteps of Irish singer Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, who won the prize in 2008 for their song "Falling Slowly" from the film "Once."
Final nominations for the 2025 Oscars, which will air live on March 2, will be announced on January 17.
In a message to the Academy, JJ Ó Dochartaigh (aka DJ Próvaí) told the Irish Times on Tuesday: “If you want to repent for your sins, vote for Kneecap.”
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