The BAFTA award was presented by Emilia Perez stars Zoe Saldana and Selena Gomez and as Kneecap Director Rich Peppiatt took to the stage, he remarked that the moment wasn’t going to plan as it was ‘an awful time to get pins and needles in your leg’.
Rich went on to deliver a heartfelt speech about how he came to know the Kneecap band members, how he ended up in Belfast in the first place, and how the movie is ‘more than a film. It’s a movement.
Winner of the award for Outstanding Debut is Rich Peppiatt for Kneecap 👏 @KNEECAPCEOL @CurzonFilm #EEBAFTAs pic.twitter.com/96LVasmXmh
— BAFTA (@BAFTA) February 16, 2025
He said: ‘Wow. I’m absolutely honored to be standing here. 15 years ago today, I actually met my wife, and a decade later, she convinced me to move to Belfast, and within two weeks of moving to Belfast, I met Kneecap, and now I’m standing here, and it’s weird how life works.
‘I mean, Kneecap are… it’s more than a film. It’s a movement, and it’s about how everyone should have their language respected, they should have their culture respected, and they should have their homeland respected.
‘And so this, this award is dedicated to everyone who’s out there fighting that fight. Thank you very much.’
"Everyone should have their language respected, their culture respected"
Stiúrthóir KNEECAP Rich Peppiatt agus é ag glacadh lena BAFTA #OutstandingDebut 🥹💚🇮🇪
Comhghairdeas lenár gcara @richpeppiatt 👏
#baftas #eebaftas pic.twitter.com/LjIgcM1IBz
— TG4 (@TG4TV) February 16, 2025
During the red carpet, Rich and the lads stopped to chat to BAFTA pre-show host Clara Amfo and the British filmmaker made a point to highlight how so many countries are losing their languages, something which is depicted at the end of the film.
He shared: ‘The fact that all around the world, it’s at the end of the film, a language dies every 40 days. So it’s been so interesting for us, travelling around the world with the film and having people from every background you can imagine [telling us] we’ve got our own language struggles [and] we’ve got our own cultural struggles.
‘And also, we need to remember the fact that the British empire once owned a third of the world. So now, when you make a film where you’re sticking the middle finger up to the Brits, don’t be surprised if a third of the world turns around and says, “Yeah, we’re gonna go watch that.”
‘Ultimately, the legacy of colonialism still exists in a lot of places in the world and so I think the film resonates on that level for a lot of people too.’
*This article was originally published on Extra.ie.
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