A Belfast schoolteacher gets pulled into the orbit of two self-described troublemakers, and out of that collision comes a hip hop act unlike anything the city has heard.
What is Kneecap about?
JJ, a mild-mannered teacher, crosses paths with Naoise and Liam Og, two young men who rap entirely in Irish and treat the language as both weapon and inheritance. What starts as a chance encounter turns into a shared project: JJ becomes the group's unlikely producer, and together they build a sound that mixes street energy with a cause few expected from a rap act. As the trio's music spreads, so does its message, drawing attention from people who want the language preserved and others who see the group as a nuisance. The film follows their rise while keeping one foot planted in the everyday chaos of Belfast life.
About the cast
Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap, and DJ Próvai play versions of themselves, bringing an authenticity that a fictionalized trio couldn't replicate, while Michael Fassbender appears in a supporting role that adds weight to the family thread running through the story. Josie Walker, Simone Kirby, Jessica Reynolds, and Fionnuala Flaherty fill out a cast that grounds the film's music-driven energy in lived-in, working-class detail, under Rich Peppiatt's direction.
Context & significance
Kneecap arrived in 2024 as a rare hybrid: part music biopic, part comedy, part cultural statement, built around a real group whose name it borrows. Shot largely in Belfast, the film uses the city's streets and pubs as a backdrop for a story about language revival, tying the trio's rise to a broader debate about who gets to define Irish identity. Its blend of English and Irish dialogue, subtitled throughout, is itself part of the point the film is making.
Watching Kneecap on Ktime
Kneecap is available on K-Time with Persian dubbing and Persian subtitles, letting Farsi-speaking viewers follow both the English and Irish dialogue without losing a beat of the film's rhythm. Browsing this page requires no account, but streaming the film calls for a K-Time login, on a platform built from the ground up with a Farsi interface for the Iranian diaspora.