Kneecap has been shortlisted for Best International Film and Best Original Song at the 2025 Oscars.
Directed by Richard Peppiatt and starring the Kneecap members playing themselves, the film is a semi-fictional biopic centred on the origin of the West-Belfast rap trio.
Having won the audience award at Sundance after its premiere there earlier this year, and taking home seven awards, including Best Independent Film, at the British Independent Film Awards last week, the film is now entering into Oscar conversations, with a chance of being nominated in two categories.
Kneecap is one of fifteen films on the shortlist for both awards. The shortlist was created for Best International Feature from films submitted by 85 countries, which were then voted on by Academy members to create a shortlist of their favourite fifteen. The Best Original Song shortlist was chosen from a list of 89 eligible songs. From these shortlists five nominees will be chosen for each award.
A considerable part of the film is in Irish, making it the second Irish language film to be nominated for Best International Feature, after An Cailín Ciúin in 2022. Speaking on this to Morning Ireland, Kneecap’s DJ Provaí remarked: ‘It’s great that minority languages and cultures are having a bit of a revival now and people are getting back to their roots. People from indigenous cultures and communities around the world have been resonating with it and connecting with their own heritage.”
Three other Irish films have been shortlisted in other categories. For Best Live Action Short Ireland has two films on the shortlist: Room Taken, which is a film about homelessness in Ireland directed by T.J. Peyton, and Clodagh, directed by Portia A. Buckley, which focuses on the relationship between an Irish dancing teacher and her student. The Apprentice, a film about Roy Cohn’s mentorship of a young Donald Trump, has been shortlisted for Best Makeup and Hairstyling and was produced by the Irish production company Tailored Films.
Commenting on the shortlisting of the four films the Chief Executive of Fís Eireann/Screen Ireland Désirée Finnegan said: “To have four films shortlisted across various categories is an incredible achievement for Irish cinema.”
Nominations will be announced on January 17th, with the awards ceremony set to be held on March 3rd at 12:00am GMT.
