Home News Kneecap movie premieres at Sundance: 'Speaking Irish is really f***in' cool'
FILM: Kneecap's Móglaí Bap, Mo Chara and DJ Próvaí in the Sunflower before heading off to the Sundance Film Festival

Kneecap movie premieres at Sundance: 'Speaking Irish is really f***in' cool'

News January 18, 2024 by Joe McCann

IRISH language rappers Kneecap touched down in Salt Lake City, UT early this morning ahead of the premiere of their eponymous movie at the famed Sundance Film Festival.

Ahead of their departure the trio from West Belfast spoke to the Irish Echo about the movie, their new album, the Irish language and their solidarity with the people of Palestine.

The film, which is set to be the first-ever Irish language film at Sundance, and the only Irish film on this year's program, follows the band who play themselves, alongside some big screen names such as Michael Fassbender and Simone Kirby. The movie premieres today, Thursday.

Sign up to The Irish Echo Newsletter

Sign up today to get daily, up-to-date news and views from Irish America.

Sign Up

The film focuses on the formation of the group, set amidst mass demonstrations in Belfast demanding Irish language rights. The group soon find themselves at the forefront of the new Irish language revolution but the lads admit that it was only after they left school that they began to appreciate the language and how important it is.

Móglaí Bap said: “We’ve become really proud of the language, myself and Mo Chara went to Coláiste Feirste but when we were younger, about 13 or 14 we didn’t want to speak it because the authority in school said to speak Irish and when you’re that age you just want do the opposite of what authority tells you.”


Mo Chara continued: “It wasn’t until we left school and we were about 18 that we realised speaking Irish was really f***in’ cool."

The trio spoke about the making of the film and working with Michael Fassbender who stars in the film as Móglaí Bap’s father, the legendary Irish language activist Gearóid Ó Cairealláin. The film was directed by Rich Peppiatt. “He’s English!” they joke, “but don’t worry, he can’t help it, we don’t hold that against him!”

Móglaí Bap added: “It was great working with Rich because he was really interested in Belfast and the North’s culture and he pretty much let us run with what we wanted to include in the film and we came together to create it."

DJ Próvaí said: “We’re co-writers and co-producers on the film as well so we all worked together to make it happen.”

On working with Michael Fassbender Móglaí Bap said: “He’s my Da in the film, it was a whole new level of acting. He grew up in Killarney and he played Bobby Sands in Hunger. He said he looked at the film feeling like what if Bobby Sands and the Hunger Strikers didn’t die – what would their life be like now?

“For him it’s a continuation of that story and he’s got the Belfast accent down to a T and he speaks in Belfast Irish as well.” DJ Próvaí added: “He took a load of Zoom calls with us to practice his speaking Irish and to get the accent right.”

Mo Chara said: “The film’s just based on our reality, so it’s not all in Irish. If it’s us three sitting together it’s all in Irish but we speak English as well to others throughout, it’s a mix of both just like in our everyday lives.”

The rapping trio plan a premiere of the film in Belfast but as the film is part of Sundance they don't currently know when it will be released to audiences.

KNEECAP: The rap trio said Unionist politicians attempt to create division in society by stigmatising the Irish language

KNEECAP: The rap trio said Unionist politicians attempt to create division in society by stigmatising the Irish language

The trio are no strangers to courting 'controversy' – usually generated by outrage from Unionist politicians, but the three state that they reject any notions of supporting sectarian division,

Mo Chara said: “We don’t get enough flak to be honest, but Unionist politicians forget that Unionist and Protestant people as well spoke and still speak Irish."

Móglaí Bap said: “They want to use us as scapegoats as a way to create a further divide between Protestants and Catholics here. Protestants and Unionists have been on this island so long that the Irish language is just as much part of their culture as it is ours. Even Ulster-Scots itself, it’s a mix of Scots and Irish and all these things are intertwined.

“The Irish language doesn’t belong to any one culture here and that’s what we want to drive home. We all know the DUP don’t align with what working class Protestants want or believe in and you see that all the time with the likes of LGBTQ+ rights and everything else. They’re not representing the people in working class loyalist areas and they want to use the Irish language – to make it into this massive political game."

CONTROVERSY: A Kneecap mural launch in Belfast

CONTROVERSY: A Kneecap mural launch in Belfast

Mo Chara added: “If they cared about the health service so much and money was the issue they’d raise taxes for rich people. Regardless of what they think, on the ground you have people like Linda Ervine on the Newtownards Road who started a (Irish language) creche and is now starting a primary school.”

CONCERT: Kneecap take the applause at Féile

CONCERT: Kneecap take the applause at Féile

The group are unabashed about their support for Palestine.

“It was great to see South Africa take Israel to the ICJ but I don’t think we deserve any praise for supporting Palestine," said Mo Chara. "It’s pretty obvious, it’s a shame that people aren’t supporting them. We had a 30 year war here  and not even a tenth died of those who have been killed in Palestine, it’s tragic and they can’t go anywhere, they’re trapped in there."

Also coming up for the group is their American tour which will take place in March and April, as well as their long-awaited album which is due to come out in June.

Kneecap's film 'Kneecap' will premier at the Sundance Film Festival on 18 January.

 

Donate