Rich Peppiatt’s Kneecap, a raucous celebration of the Belfast rap trio, continues to astound at awards season, picking up six nominations from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (Baftas). That makes it the Baftas’ most nominated debut feature. Saoirse Ronan has also been nominated as best actress for her role as a recovering alcoholic in Nora Fingscheidt’s windswept The Outrun.
“For long enough the British government has stolen Ireland’s treasures – and even our f**king food,” Kneecap say in a typically combative statement. “To be first-time actors and now get to hopefully go over and take a few bits back the other way is a nice change – and long may it continue. Ireland taking British awards is f**king hilarious.”
[ Bafta nominations 2025: Kneecap and Saoirse Ronan shortlistedOpens in new window ]
Both The Outrun and Kneecap were marked down as potential players in awards season as soon as they premiered last year to raves at Sundance Film Festival. Few felt, however, that Peppiatt’s Irish-language film would score quite so heavily with mainstream organisations. Kneecap has essentially got in everywhere it had even a reasonable chance: best film not in the English language, outstanding debut, best original screenplay, best casting, best editing and outstanding British film. In editing, it sees off favoured films such as Luca Guadagnino’s dynamic Challengers and Brady Corbet’s epic The Brutalist.
The result is a leap forward for Irish-language film. Two years ago Colm Bairéad’s An Cailín Ciúin paved the way with two Bafta nominations. Tripling that figure, Kneecap is now surely on the path to repeat the earlier film’s success in scoring a nomination for Oscar for best international film. That announcement, delayed twice as a result of the fires in Los Angeles, is now due on Thursday, January 23rd.
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“Everyone loves an underdog story and (nearly) everyone loves the Irish,” Kneecap director Peppiatt told The Irish Times.
“Put them together and I guess you have this mad awards season run we’re enjoying, that’s melting the heart of even the most hardened Dublin critic.”
Ronan has, to this point, had a disappointing awards season. It was felt she had a fine chance of an Oscar nomination, but The Outrun has proved too low-key to interest precursor bodies such as the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild. She will appreciate the nod, but acknowledgment from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences still seems unlikely.
[ Bafta nominations 2025: Full list of nomineesOpens in new window ]
Edward Berger’s Conclave, starring Ralph Fiennes as a cardinal charged with supervising a papal election, tops the table with an impressive 12 mentions. Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Pérez, a singular musical about a Mexican drug lord who transitions gender, is in second place, with 11 nominations. The team from Wicked will have been disappointed to miss out on a best film nomination. Denzel Washington, left out of best supporting actor for Gladiator II, somehow remains the most surprising actor never to have been nominated for a Bafta.
