Kneecap, Riotous Irish Rappers, Expect Their New Film to Shock

“He gave me his wallet,” joked D.J. Próvaí, a member of the Belfast-based rap trio Kneecap, to explain why the group trusted the British filmmaker Rich Peppiatt to tell their story.

Kneecap’s blending of hip-hop beats with Irish-language rap lyrics championing republican politics — seeking unity for the Ireland’s north and south — has won it fans on both sides of Ireland’s internal border. The group has also drawn wrath from both British and Northern Irish politicians, who have accused it of inciting sectarianism. But this only made the trio a more attractive subject for his first scripted project, Peppiatt said, and “Kneecap” — a riotous fictionalized retelling of the rappers’ origins — comes to U.S. theaters Friday.

“They deal with serious subjects in a hysterical way and made headlines for saying things that no one else seemed to be saying,” Peppiatt said in an interview alongside two group members. Last year, Kneecap unveiled a cartoonlike mural in Belfast of a police vehicle on fire, accompanied by an anti-police message in Irish.

“They also played the media very well, drawing fire from the media and politicians, but always turning it to their own advantage,” Peppiatt added.

A former journalist, Peppiatt resigned from the British tabloid newspaper The Daily Star in 2011 and then made the documentary “One Rogue Reporter” about unscrupulous newspaper editors. In the Kneecap lads, he found kindred rebellious spirits, and they were reassured by Peppiatt’s own turbulent experience with the news media.