Kneecap win seven BIFA awards for biopic, including “joint lead” acting accolade

nme.com:

Kneecap has taken home seven wins at the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA), including a joint lead accolade for its stars.The comedy biopic, which focuses on the rise of the Belfast hip-hop group, also won major awards including Best British Independent Film and Best Debut Screenwriter for Rich Peppiatt.Band members Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh, Naoise Ó Cairealláin and JJ Ó Dochartaigh won Best Joint Lead Performance at last night’s (December 8) ceremony at London’s Roundhouse, while the film also won four craft awards ahead of the ceremony.It was also a good night for Rungano Nyoni’s On Becoming A Guinea Fowl, Sandhya Suri’s Santosh and Pinny Gryllsa and Sam Crane’s Grand Theft Hamlet, which each won two awards, while Anora took home Best International Independent Film.Marianne Jean-Baptiste won Best Lead Performance for her turn in Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths, while Franz Rogowski won Best Supporting Performance for Andrea Arnold’s Bird.NME described Kneecap as “arguably one of the best music biopics of all time” in our five-star review, naming it as our best film of 2024.The full list of BIFA winners are below:Best British Independent FilmBest International Independent FilmBest DirectorBest Joint Lead PerformanceBest ScreenplayBest Lead PerformanceBest Supporting PerformanceBest Debut DirectorBest Debut ScreenwriterBreakthrough ProducerRaindance Maverick AwardBest Debut Director – Feature DocumentaryBreakthrough PerformanceBest Feature DocumentaryBest British Short Film.