KNEECAP

The story of a hip-hop group from Belfast who rap in their native Irish language in the fight to preserve it. Winner of the BAFTA award for debut director and winner of seven British Independent Film Awards, a close cousin of TRAINSPOTTING and an energetic bomb in which the young rappers from the group Kneecap play themselves.

Could there be a better recommendation? KNEECAP had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award. The film features Móglaí Bap, Mo Chara and DJ Próvaí - real members of the Irish-language band Kneecap, playing themselves. A fictional, but according to the creators, mostly true story, set to a powerful hip-hop beat, tells the old truth that a nation without a language does not exist.

In a world where a national dialect dies out every two weeks, fate brings together JJ, a teacher from Belfast, and two lads without much of a future. Thus begins the fight for something that should be unquestionable - the right to rap in their native language. The band becomes a key link in the battle for recognition of the Irish language's status. It soon becomes clear that their worst enemy is themselves. Their anarchic lifestyle, filled with hedonism, casual sex and drugs, often throws them outside the law and causes problems.

KNEECAP is a wild, no-holds-barred ride, but also a tragicomic tale of our inherent human need to fight for our own identity, whether personal, political or artistic. In a supporting role, you will see Michael Fassbender, who, as he himself admits, had to refresh his native Irish while filming. Here is a film that, while telling the story of the characters' struggle for their national identity, will also leave you feeling energised and full of that unmistakable feel-good factor as you leave the cinema.

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Text: Dorota Reksińska