The 2024 Kneecap film has been shortlisted for two Oscar categories, following the project’s success at the Sundance film festival.
The film has been put forward for two categories, International Feature and Best Original Song for ‘Sick in the Head’.
The film - also called 'Kneecap' - was distributed and co-produced by Wildcat Studios.
Head of distribution Gillian Cooper told The Hard Shoulder that the studio had always known the film was something special.
“We’ve been on the project for about three years now, and we always felt in our bones that it was a hit,” she said. “But we were always speaking from an Irish film distributor perspective, and we know it was going to resonate here.
“I think it was about, maybe last year around October, we started doing test screenings both locally and internationally.
“That like, indigenous language element and theme of the film was really resonating quite strongly with people – but there’s also so many different topics and themes in the film that it’s bound to catch someone.”
Kneecap perform during the Electric Picnic Festival in Stradbally, County Laois. Picture date: Saturday September 3, 2022.
Ms Cooper said that the project is a huge achievement for the Irish film industry.
“I’ve been doing this for like, close to 10 years at this stage, and this is the first time that we’ve really gotten close to something, as well as being the first time we’ve co-produced as well,” she said.
“So, being able to be part of those conversations is just really exciting.”
'Golden year'According to Ms Cooper, this has been somewhat of a ‘golden year’ for Irish film.
“We have a burgeoning film community that’s constantly been on the up for at least about 10 years,” she said.
“Like, we’re really starting to feel that we’re getting more pitches to us every day.
“I think we’ve had a daily pitch like for the last about six weeks – it's amazing.”
Ms Cooper said that she feels the landscape of the industry has changed hugely even since she first entered college.
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