Kneecap

This year's opening film of the Northern Film Festival is one that rocks! Kneecap is your not-so-average musical biopic, about the eponymous rap group that has been rocking (Northern) Ireland since 2017. This raw, uncompromising film shows the trio at their purest; in fact, alongside more experienced actors (such as Michael Fassbender and Josie Walker), the artists play themselves. Their feature debut, written and directed by Rich Peppiat, is a fiercely original hiphop biopic full of creativity and humour. No wonder Kneecap was the winner of the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival.

When music teacher JJ (DJ Próvai) encounters the uncontrolled energy of self proclaimed low life scum drugdealers Naoise (Móglaí Bap) and Liam Óg (Mo Chara), it unleashes an Irish hip-hop revolution no one saw coming. The trio Kneecap rap in their native language, a crucial part of their cultural heritage, and break through in Belfast. Unintentionally, they grow to become the face of a civil rights movement fighting for an official status and the preservation of the Irish language. As the police and politicians try to silence the anarchic trio, they instead shout louder - and fouler.