Pints of Guinness continued to flow in a Belfast bar despite the cast and crew of Irish-language film Kneecap learning they had missed out on an Oscar nomination.
Groans of disappointment echoed around a crammed upstairs room in Madden’s Bar – where the first meeting between its director and Kneecap band members took place six years ago – as the ceremony was streamed live on Thursday.
Filmed in Belfast and Dundalk, Rich Peppiatt’s fictionalised biopic of the west Belfast rap trio had been shortlisted in two categories, best international feature film and best original song.
Fans stood on chairs and held up mobile phones in Madden’s (the pub also features in the film) to record the moment as Peppiatt, its writer and director, and producer Trevor Birney quietly watched the shortlist appear on screen.
The Kneecap members watched on a remote link from London, where they are recording.
Cheers erupted for Peppiatt, a journalist who moved to Belfast seven years ago, as he spoke of how he could never have imagined the film’s “fantastic success”.
It won an audience prize at the Sundance Film Festival a year ago and secured six nominations at the British Academy of Film and Television awards (Bafta) earlier this month; it is also in the running for an American Critic’s award.
“Clearly we would have liked to have gone that extra step, but the film owes us nothing. We’ve had a fantastic year,” he told the crowd.
“To even get close to the Oscars conversation is fantastic. We will have a few drinks today, we will dust ourselves down.”
[ Oscars 2025: Kneecap’s failure to get a nomination is a genuine upsetOpens in new window ]
Crew member Dallan Shovlin, who is from Donegal but moved to Belfast a decade ago to work in the film industry, described his experience on the film as “a dream”.
“The script jumped off the page for everybody and the Kneecap boys were amazing – always up for the craic and the work”.
Irish speaker Medb Ní Dhúláin, who works for Fine Point film production company, and is from Randalstown in Co Antrim, said she loved seeing the film “grow from the ground up”.
“And it was just lovely to see an Englishman come over and take an interest in our culture,” she said.
“I’m the only one in my family who speaks Irish and everything I’ve worked on since leaving university has been through Irish – and that’s testament to the amount of opportunities here. I suppose it all goes back to Game of Thrones; none of us are stuck for work, it’s just incredible.”
Birney was applauded loudly when he said it takes “a village to make a film” and paid tribute to the cast and crew.
“A year ago we were at Sundance and we thought that was the high point.
“Here we are a year later still talking about Kneecap.”
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