# Rich Peppiatt

Rich Peppiatt is an English-born Irish writer and director. He is best known for films Kneecap and One Rogue Reporter.
Peppiatt received nominations in four categories at the 78th British Academy Film Awards for Kneecap, including Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer.
He was nominated in six categories of the 78th British Academy Film Awards for Kneecap, making him the most nominated debut director in the awards’ history.
He went on to win the BAFTA for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer. He was also awarded Best Director at the 2025 Irish Film and Television Awards, Best Debut Screenwriter at the British Independent Film Awards, and Breakthrough British/Irish filmmaker at the London Film Critics ‘ Circle Awards.

## Career

After graduating from the University of Warwick, Peppiatt worked as a journalist across a number of national newspapers. He first came to prominence in 2011 when his resignation letter to Daily Star proprietor Richard Desmond, accusing the paper of Islamophobia and unethical journalism, went viral when it was leaked to the Guardian newspaper. He became a prominent critic of tabloid behaviour, giving evidence at the Leveson Inquiry into Press Ethics.

### One Rogue Reporter

Peppiatt turned his experiences as a journalist and fallout from his resignation into a stand-up comedy show titled One Rogue Reporter which premiered at the 2012 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, described as "hilariously turning the tables on the tabloid power players, testing the public’s right to know to its eye-opening extremity." After Edinburgh the show toured across the UK, finishing with a run at London’s Soho Theatre.
The stage show was transformed into a documentary One Rogue Reporter, starring the likes of Hugh Grant, Steve Coogan and John Bishop. It premiered at Sheffield DocFest in 2014 and was nominated for Best Independent Feature at the National Film Awards UK.

### Short films

In 2018 Peppiatt released two short films titled Backseat Driver and Grounded. Grounded was long-listed for the 2020 Academy Awards.

### Television

Peppiatt was the writer and occasional director of five seasons Channel 4’s satirical consumer affairs show Supershoppers. He was writer of season five of Channel 4’s Tricks of the Restaurant Trade.

### Kneecap

In 2024 Peppiatt wrote and directed his first narrative feature film Kneecap, about the rise of the Belfast-based hip-hop group Kneecap. The film stars the band members as themselves, as well as Michael Fassbender. The idea for a film was first conceived in 2019 when Peppiatt watched the group perform in Belfast. He went on to shoot the music video for their track “Guilty Conscience”. The film premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, winning the NEXT Audience Award. It was released worldwide in August 2024 claiming the biggest Irish weekend opening ever for Irish language film.
At the 2024 Galway Film Fleadh Kneecap won three main prizes: Best Irish Film, Best Irish Language Film and Audience Award. It is the first film in the 36-year history of the festival to do so.
The film won seven awards at the 2024 British Independent Film Awards, including Best British Independent Film, four awards at the Irish Film and Television Awards, and a BAFTA.
Kneecap was shortlisted as Ireland’s entry for the 2025 Academy Awards, but missed out on a nomination.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Contribution | Note |
| 2014 | One Rogue Reporter | Director, writer and producer | Documentary |
| 2017 | Hutching Up | Director, writer and producer | Short film |
| 2018 | Grounded | Director, writer and producer | Short film |
| 2018 | Backseat Driver | Director, co-writer and producer | Short film |
| 2018 | Who Killed the KLF? | Executive producer | Documentary |
| 2024 | Kneecap | Director and writer | Feature film |

### Television

| Year | Title | Contribution | Note |
| 2016-2018 | Supershoppers | Director, writer and producer | TV Series |
| 2019 | Tricks of the Restaurant Trade | Writer | 5 episodes |

## Awards and nominations

| Award | Year | Category | Work | Result |
| British Independent Film Awards | 2024 | Best British Independent Film | Kneecap | Won |
| British Independent Film Awards | 2024 | Best Director | Kneecap | Nominated |
| British Independent Film Awards | 2024 | Best Screenplay | Kneecap | Nominated |
| British Independent Film Awards | 2024 | Douglas Hickox Award (Best Debut Director) | Kneecap | Nominated |
| British Independent Film Awards | 2024 | Best Debut Screenwriter | Kneecap | Won |
| European Film Awards | 2024 | European Discovery – Prix FIPRESCI | Kneecap | Nominated |
| European Film Awards | 2024 | European University Film Award | Kneecap | Nominated |
| Galway Film Fleadh | 2024 | Best Irish Film | Kneecap | Won |
| Galway Film Fleadh | 2024 | Best Irish Language Film | Kneecap | Won |
| Galway Film Fleadh | 2024 | Audience Award | Kneecap | Won |
| South by Southwest | 2024 | Audience Award | Kneecap | Nominated |
| Sundance Film Festival | 2024 | NEXT Audience Award | Kneecap | Won |
| Sydney Film Festival | 2024 | Best Film | Kneecap | Nominated |
| Irish Film and Television Academy Awards | 2025 | Best Film | Kneecap | Nominated |
| Irish Film and Television Academy Awards | 2025 | Best Director | Kneecap | Won |
| Irish Film and Television Academy Awards | 2025 | Best Script | Kneecap | Nominated |
| British Academy of Film and Television Awards | 2025 | Best Film Not In The English Language | Kneecap | Nominated |
| British Academy of Film and Television Awards | 2025 | Best Original Screenplay | Kneecap | Nominated |
| British Academy of Film and Television Awards | 2025 | Outstanding British Film | Kneecap | Nominated |
| British Academy of Film and Television Awards | 2025 | Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer | Kneecap | Won |