West Belfast premiere for 'fun and serious' Kneecap film

The film tells a fictionalised version of the group’s origin story

The Belfast premiere of the Kneecap film has taken place "where it all started" in the west of the city, the band has said.

Kneecap is an Irish-speaking trio which has openly courted controversy with their provocative lyrics and merchandise.

The film tells a fictionalised version of the group’s origin story.

Kneecap was formed in 2017 by three friends who go by the stage names of Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap and DJ Próvaí.

Mo Chara said the group were "very proud" of the film

Speaking on the red carpet on Tuesday evening, Mo Chara joked that “they tried to show it at Wembley and we were saying ‘no it has to be west Belfast, it has to be where it all started'”.

“The amount of times I used to sneak into films here, it’s great now to see everybody paying in for my film.”

Asked about becoming Ireland’s entry for best internal film at the Oscars, he said it was "just a great chance to wind people up again”.

“We’re all very proud of it,” he said.

DJ Próvaí added it was “brilliant for us that the Irish language is now at the forefront of a lot of what people are taking about”.

“It’s not just a language for one side of the community, it’s a language for everybody,” he added.

“It never was a divisive tool and it shouldn’t have been used as that.”

DJ Próvaí said that the acclaim that the film has received, including the NEXT Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival has been “surreal”.

“You don’t know if it’s going to travel well because there’s a lot of colloquialisms in it.”

'It was very freeing'

Simone Kirby who plays Dolores in the film said she had “never done anything like it before”.

“The band have their own energy,” she said.

“It’s very different from just a scripted film where all the actors are coming in, you’re coming in to something that has its own energy which is really exciting.”

Kirby added that “even though it’s a really fun movie there’s a really serious not to it as well”.

She said that the film has an important point to make about “language and identity and culture”.

She said it was important to watch the premiere with a Belfast audience.

“There’s going to be little jokes in there that will get missed everywhere else except for Belfast."

Jessica Reynolds who also stars in the film said the experience of making the movie was “wild” and “one of the funnest things I’ve ever done”.

“The boys just brought this unruly energy. It was very freeing.”