Rich Peppiatt’s Irish comedy Kneecap has won the Crystal Arrow for best film at France’s Les Arcs Film Festival, which ran from December 14-21, 2024 in the mountain resort town.
The origin story of the titular Irish-language hip-hop group earned a €20,000 digital promotional campaign in partnership with France Televisions for its release. Wayna Pitch will release the film in France on June 18, 2025 and Charades handles international sales.
Kneecap, which has been shortlisted in the best international feature and best song categories for the 2025 Oscars, racked up several prizes at the festival including the young jury prize voted on by high-school students, the Cinglés du Cinémaprize and best original music for Michael “Mikey J” Asante’s score.
The jury grand prize went to Lilja Ingolfsdottir’s Norwegian drama Loveable, about a woman on a journey of self-discovery after her husband asks for a divorce. TrustNordisk handles sales and Jour2Fête will distribute in France.
The film’s star Helga Guren won one of two acting awards, with the second going to Marilena Amato for her role in Alessandro Cassigoli and Casey Kauffman’s Italian family drama Vittoria.
Vytautas Katkus took the best cinematography award for Saulé Bliuvaité’s teen drama Toxic, which won the Golden Leopard in Locarno. The film also won Les Arcs’ Cineuropa award worth €5,000.
The audience award went to Bernard Wenger’s Peacock, a biting comedy about human relationships sold by mk2 Films and released in France by PyramideDistribution.
This year’s festival showcased nearly 100 films and drew 24,000 attendees, the most in the event’s history and up 15% from its 2023 edition. More than 700 industry professionals took part in the parallel Industry Village programme.
Other festival highlights included career tributes to Italian filmmaker Matteo Garrone and French actress Karin Viard, and the Les Arcs Prix Femme de Cinéma which honoured Italian director Paola Cortellesi.
The festival wrapped on Friday night (December 20) with Manèle Labidi’s Queen Mom (Reine Mère).
Les Arcs 2024 winners
Crystal Arrow for best film: Kneecap, dir. Rich Peppiatt (Ire)
Jury grand prize: Loveable, dir. Lilja Ingolfdottir (Nor)
Acting awards: Helga Guren for Loveable; Marilena Amato for Vittoria, dirs. Alessandro Cassigoli and Casey Kauffman (It)
Best original music: Michael “Mikey J” Asante for Kneecap
Best cinematography: Vytautas Katkus for Toxic, dir. Saulé Bliuvaité (Lith)
Universcine prize: September Says, dir. Ariane Labed (Ire-UK-Ger)
Cineuropa prize: Toxic
Cingles du cinema prize: Kneecap; special mention: Toxic
Audience award: Peacock, dir. Bernhard Wenger (Aus)
Young jury prize: Kneecap; special mention: Peacock
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