Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
WHEN YOU CALL to mind what kind of project the British Academy Film Awards might reward for ‘outstanding British film’, you would be forgiven for not immediately thinking of Kneecap.
But that’s just one of six awards that the movie could pick up at the Baftas on Sunday, along with outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer, film not in the English language, original screenplay, casting and editing.
The Belfast rap trio of the same name - Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap and tricolour balaclava-wearing DJ Próvaí – whose semi-fictionalised origin story the film tells, have said they think “Ireland taking British awards is fucking hilarious”.
There are other Irish contenders in the field too, including Saoirse Ronan for ‘best leading actress’ for her performance in The Outrun.
Speaking to The Journal about the film’s chances on Sunday night, arts and culture writer Aoife Barry said the film – which has already won several awards – brings a new and different representation of Northern Ireland to the screen.
“The ‘Good Friday babies’ generation and the younger generation of Northern Irish young people haven’t had their story told in the way that Kneecap tell it,” she said.
“It’s almost tongue-in-cheek in some ways and very messy, but very clear on their point of view. They’re young, they speak to young people. They don’t talk down to young people… and people do love disruptors in film, there’s not that many disruptors that do things completely their own way, and they are very much seen as that.”
So what are Kneecap’s chances at the Baftas?
“I think the thing to remember about the Baftas is that it’s their chance to reward and award British talent that’s been ignored on the wider awards circuit, which is American-based with a lot of competition,” Barry said.
“Don’t be surprised if you see really big Hollywood films not getting an award and a British film getting it instead. It’s a chance to recognise the huge talent in in the UK.”
Gráinne Humphreys, the executive director of the Dublin International Film Festival, told The Journal that she doesn’t see Kneecap “sweeping the board” in what is a very competitive year, but she is hopeful that the film won’t leave empty handed.
“The film has done really well. It went to Sundance, it’s had this amazing role. There’s an energy around it,” she said.
I also think that the lads themselves are actually interesting enough that I’m sure people would want to put them on stage, which is actually a thing that I think people vote for. They go: ‘Well, I could vote for anyone, but I’d love to see that these guys would do with an acceptance speech’.
The film’s success to date has been undeniable. It was the first Irish-language film to be screened at Sundance Film Festival, where it premiered, and it won the Audience Award at the event.
It also dominated at the British Independent Film Awards, taking home seven awards, including Best British Independent Film and Best Debut Screenwriter for its writer and director Rich Peppiatt.
Just last night, the film took home four Irish Film and Television Academy (Ifta) awards, including for Costume Design, Editing, Casting and Best Director for Peppiatt.
In the Outstanding British Film category, Kneecap is up against films such as Oscar-tipped Conclave, World War II drama Blitz and Bird, a coming-of-age story starring Barry Keoghan.
“I don’t know if I was to look at that list, whether or not it would take it, although I know that that, again, would be a very smart headline,” Humphreys said.
“One could argue that it would be very surprising for Conclave not to win it, in the sense that it is the British film at the Oscars in so many ways.
“If it’s not Conclave, which has very definitely won so many awards and got so much energy behind it, it could be Hard Truths, which is the Mike Leigh film that was kind of locked out and ignored, but it seems to be very, very well respected amongst the critical fraternity and the industry.”
Barry also believes it’s unlikely for Kneecap to see success in the Outstanding British Film category given the “very tough competition” from Hard Truths and Gladiator II, starring Ireland’s Paul Mescal.
Kneecap possibly has a better chance in the categories for film not in the English language, and outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer.
“It feels like those are the areas that will highlight the Irish language piece, and the radical new talent piece,” said Humphreys.
Barry also believes a win in the debut director category is likely.
I think it might be seen as somewhat of a political with a small ‘p’ decision if they win this. It does say something positive if they win in that particular category.”
Kneecap stands “head and shoulders above” the other films in the same category in terms of awareness, and would be the popular choice amongst audiences, she added.
Barry feels the film is also likely to miss out on an award for best screenplay due to the other films in the category, such as Anora and The Brutalist, both of which are Oscar-nominated.
A win for casting is also unlikely to go to Kneecap, she said.
However, this award could go to The Apprentice, which tells the story of how Donald Trump started his real estate business in the late 1970s with the helping hand of cutthroat lawyer Roy Cohn.
The film includes the Dublin-based Tailored Films among its producers, with stars Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong nominated for leading actor and supporting actor, respectively.
“It’s a brilliant film. Sebastian Stan is excellent in it and it’s also really on point in terms of the topic,” Barry said. “That could be really up there for casting.”
In the editing category, Kneecap is up against Conclave – which is edited by Belfast-born Nick Emerson.
On this one, Barry believes the scales are tipped in Conclave’s favour.
“It’s just a really well made film. It’s a papal thriller. It really keeps you on your toes. Visually, it’s stunning.
It would be a great way of Ireland getting getting an award.
However, Humphreys is not so sure if either of them will take home the award.
“Some people feel like there’s a particular set of criteria that you award Best Editing and I’m kind of fascinated to see which way it would go,” she said.
She said the film that triumphs in this category often emerges as the winner in the best directing and cinematography grouping, as the “key components of the best film”.
“That might mean it might roll towards Conclave,” she said, describing it as “brilliant”.
“As somebody who rails against the length of films, I think editing is vital, and that it’s really important that we actually are able to celebrate it. I’m just delighted to see that kind of recognition.”
The other Irish hopeful at the Baftas this year is Saoirse Ronan, who picked up a leading actress nod for her performance in The Outrun.
The film is an adaptation of Amy Liptrot’s memoir on addiction and recovery and sees Ronan play Rona, a young woman recovering from alcoholism and trying to maintain sobriety in her childhood home of Orkney.
Despite Ronan’s powerful performance, the film didn’t pick up any Oscar nominations, and according to Barry, it’s hard to see the Irish actress taking home the award on the night.
“This is an interesting one, because this is one of the best roles of her career. She’s outstanding in it, and she co-produced the film as well,” she said.
“It’s a really tough category this year. If she did get it, it would be really lovely for her, because it will be rewarding her for this really big role in her career. But I think her chances are fairly low considering the other people that are in there with her, which is disappointing, because it is a big moment for her.”
Someone who might win is Marianne Jean-Baptiste. The English actress is best known for her role in Mike Leigh’s 1996 drama Secrets & Lies, for which she earned an Oscar nomination. It is her performance in another Leigh film – Hard Truths – that has earned her the Bafta nomination this year.
Humphreys said Ronan could take home the award due to the fact that The Outrun might connect more with audiences at the Baftas than it would in the US.
However, she said that a strong performance is not always the thing that earns you the award, with much now relying on where the film premieres and how strong a campaign it runs throughout the year.
“I love Saoirse in The Outrun, I thought she was absolutely fantastic, but I’m also aware that people have very different ideas about what a great performance is,” she said.
“Manys a time I’ve heard people saying, ‘Oh, well, it’s a great performance, but she’s young. She’ll have another chance. Let’s give it to the person who’s not going to get it’. And I feel like that’s probably an attitude that’s coming in more and more, and unfortunately, somebody as brilliant as Saoirse possibly gets caught with that.”
The Bafta Film Awards will be broadcast on BBC One from 7pm on Sunday.
Sad to see the jobs go but associating the name ‘Fastnet line’ with this service was a bit much. It took 11 and a half hours to get to Wales. You’d be quicker windsurfing.
its named after the fastnet rock just off baltimore in west cork…
The one it goes nowhere near?
its what they named it after and that is a fact go take up the issue with owners.
@ Tony Stanley, I have never been on a ship where the main engines constantly ran unless the vessel is departing soon after arrival. Diesel Generators power the vessel in port.
Heavy fuel oil is only used for propulsion on long voyages when the vessel is finished manoeuvring and clear of land.
A skeleton crew has to stay onboard for safety reasons and they are entitled to electricity like the rest of us.
Now the company has folded the vessel can be off hired and sent back to owners or sold, I hope the crew get any wages they are owed, if you want to pay more for goods imported to this island keep pushing for a carbon tax on ships!
Yes carbon tax on ships , push up the cost of exporting , make us even more uncompetitive and throw what few jobs we have left to the four winds , great idea , sounds like one worthy of Fianna Fail in its heyday.
Sad to see it go ….
Where are Leo Varadkars commits today! He hasn’t been in the news for 17 hours and I miss his fat face.
Comments not commits!
Pity. Though I never used it myself.
So it’s somehow a bad thing that I never used the service then…?! God help us.
I’m sorry to see it go, another dozen or so Cork families in despair today. It was too expensive for the average family though, they could go to France on Brittany Ferries for in and about the same money.
What will happen the Julia? That ship is docked in the city center, all engines running. If they stop the engines, it seizes up I believe, but who pays for the diesel and manpower to keep it going?
i dont think thats true at all
Which part? I can see it is parked there with my own eyes. I can hear the engines turning over. It is manned, and it would be normal enough for large engines to seize when they stop.
Maybe you know more than I do, please, elaborate.
its normal enough for large engines to seize when they stop? what are you talking about…so every ship and large ferry in the world is constantly burning fuel…that is just not true at all…the julia has its auxilery engines running while people are on board as these much smaller engines provide the lights and all that on board.
Are you a marine engineer on the sly ;)… I thought large diesel engines prefer to run long and steady, Very long time since I did mechanics though, things must have changed. :)
Are people living on it so, that they are still running them?
The question still is though, what will be done with a big fat ship docked in cork city center.
P’s right ya know!
An auxiliary power unit operates to keep power levels up on the ship but this is powered by the diesel onboard, in most ships of this nature the engines are placed in a low idle power mode with the engines to prevent them from stopping altogether! The props may not be turning but thing are still in action to prevent mechanism from seizing up and to keep things greased! This is one of the reasons the shipping industry is one of the highest pollutants in the world (despite never getting even a fraction of the green taxes that air travellers suffer from despite aviation only contributing a fraction of the greenhouse gases that ships do) and why you almost always see smoke coming out of the funnels of stationary ships in harbours!!!!!
@Tony Not to mention the bunker fuel used is just a step up from burning bitumen.
Thanks Tony! I was just looking up the Julia. The ship is 30 years old, engines are bound to be ancient and inefficient at this stage, and probably need a bit of nursing.
I am sure they have to pay port taxes while it is berthed in the docks in Cork.
The engines were changed in the past 18 months, so should be effecient. Hope they manage to sell it to pay off their debts. @P Wurple Having watched your posts over a few months I notice your pouncing on anyone that may have a differing option to you. Belittling people like asking them are they Marine Engineers, give people an inch, it’ll make their experience on here a biymt better and hopefully they will come back and be regular contributors!!
Michael, I am direct, always have been. Maybe it comes across as harsh on the internet. I was not being sarcastic or belittling to anonymous, there are buckets of merchant navy, navy and marine engineers in cork, this is where the college is, why would he not be one? I will take anyones direct experience or knowledge over my own measley hunch. I even stuck in a friendly smiley. :)
Plus, I was the one being jumped on, not the other way around.
Correct, you are direct and I feel you are harsh on people also, that’s what I was highlighting. I also know where the Maritime College is, as I live here in Cork. I’ve said my bit and was honest about it. Take my advice, chuck it aside, but I had the balls to say it to you, with respect!
The sad fact is that with upgrades, bypasses and new bridges the road from Cork to Rosslare makes the Rosslare – Fishguard route quicker and cheaper than the Julia.
Well, it does, but when your business plan was thought up over night, you buy the wrong ferry, you upset your main income from the start, and the service is shoddy, you can not expect a enterprise like this to last in the modern era.
Was very handy when I was moving over and back from London ….. It used to go from Cork late evening so you could go to the bar and have a nice few pints, get a berth and get the hard down and then 3 hrs on the M4 and your in London ….. Shame
sad indeed, we’ll miss the Julia.
you wha now?
Where’s the Minister for Tourism and Trade ??
what a shame used it several years ago
“Head down” …… Apologies
Was not viable. Management were inept. Cork CC should not have gotten involved. Embarrassing.
Travelled on it once last year returning from Wales. Had travelled over from Rosslare and returned via Swansea -Cork. No facilities at either end (buses / train links) for foot passengers. The Welsh taxi driver said it made no difference to the taxi business as so few travelled (apart from Volcanic Ash Cloud week). The boat itself was dirty, smelly and hadn’t one bit of information about Ireland, never mind the SW. Were so few passengers (~25) & cars (max 20) on board that week (the week before Whit) I’m not surprised at this. Plus, I saw somewhere that the business plan for recovery projected growth based on passenger / freight capacity that the boat physically couldn’t take anyway.
Poor service and abysmal planning can’t be made workable simply because the idea might be nice.
fair point William. if it wasn’t for aeroplanes this 1920s business plan may actually have worked!
This service was never going to work, due to bad management from day one. It’s a shame, the amount of money that has been wasted, and maybe the chance of ever getting a boat back again, due to this.
The Swansea Cork route is now probably dead, and no hope of bringing extra tourist into the W Cork/S Kerry region, which was the main intention of the boat, but unfortunately, didn’t happen
A great shame, and we’ll miss it.
It was obvious to anyone with a brain it was never gonna work out unfortunately. Better off if the money was invested in marketing or even the hotel in Beara could have been finished off. The tourists are in killarney and kerry, it’s just a matter of getting them to travel further south and promote in international media also. Why not market a drive from killarney right down around west cork, back through cork city and fly out from there again. It could work in both directions. Flights and car hire are so cheap now and all the B&B’s and hotels will get on board with it too. But instead all that money was wasted on an ancient ship that was probably fit to be scrapped when they bought it. Swansea to cork over 10-12 hours like. How was that ever going to compete with airports from all over the world.
Not enough demand, hence no supply
It’s a wonder someone has blamed Michael O’Leary.
s**te…hasn’t
Sorry to see this ferry service end — many a good memory travelling to & from uk & sleeping over …..
Whilst sad for those who have lost their jobs, the notion a ferry service taking 12 hours across the Irish sea was ever going to be viable is just complete nonsense. The BS coming from local interest politicians on the news this evening was predictable nonsense. This service brought nothing either to the cork / kerry economy nor for that matter swansea’s were i worked for 12 months. The greatest mystery I and numerous others could not work out was were all these supposed vast numbers of visitors were going, certainly not swansea. The freight business was also too small as the ferry could not handle the loads of ferry’s used by Sea Link and the dreadful Irish (every nationality) ferries. Its not a surprise that all county councils, government agencies and especially tourism bodies both in Ireland and wales ran a mile when this company came looking for funds. Sad to say today’s decision was inevitable.
If there are similar losses at both termini it should be cost neutral on both local economies.
have your say