Kneecap's dream of walking down the red carpet at the 97th Academy Awards has ended, with the announcement of the Oscars nominations list. Having been long-listed in the Best International Feature and Original Song categories, the west Belfast hip-hop trio failed to make the final shortlist for either category, when the full list of nominees was revealed yesterday, January 23.
The band can take some consolation in the fact that their self-titled 'heightened reality' film is nominated for six BAFTA Fiilm Awards, and received 17 nominations from the Irish Film and TV Academy. The British Academy Film Awards are set to take place in London on February 16, while the IFTA awards ceremony will be staged at the Dublin Royal Convention Centre on February 14. Last year Kneecap, the film, received seven awards, including the top honour, Best British Independent Film, at the British Independent Film Awards
Posting on their social media channels following their Oscars snub, the outspoken group offered a tongue-in-cheek suggestion that voters might have been motivated by factors unrelated to the film's merits, writing, "Fuck the Oscars. Free Palestine" as a caption above a 'doctored' image of a left-wing political pamphlet from the 1990s - titled 'The British Media and Ireland' - which sought to analyse British media coverage of Ireland affairs, and concluded that Irish voices were often silenced.
