From Kneecap to Karlovy Vary: Ireland's Wildcard rises as producer
DIRECT ANSWER: From Kneecap to a Karlovy Vary hit, Dublin-based Wildcard has turned its new production arm into a festival force in under three years—earning rave reviews for Learning to Breathe Under Water at Karlovy Vary and lining up Mia Hansen-Løve's Mary Wollstonecraft biopic If Love Should Die as its next co-production.
When most filmmakers launch a production company, they hope the first feature at least makes a little noise. For Wildcard, Kneecap did not do anything quietly. Rich Peppiatt's rowdy Northern Irish rap biopic put the former distributor on the map as a producer—and set the tone for what followed.
Key Takeaways
- Wildcard dropped Distribution from its name in 2023 and made Kneecap its first co-production credit.
- Kneecap, Fréwaka, and Learning to Breathe Under Water all earned A-list festival premieres.
- Learning to Breathe Under Water world-premiered at Karlovy Vary and debuts in Ireland at the Galway Film Fleadh.
- Wildcard is co-producing Mia Hansen-Løve's If Love Should Die, starring Renate Reinsve.
- Managing director Patrick O'Neill wants indigenous Irish films that travel internationally.
Why did Wildcard pivot from distribution to production?
Wildcard launched in 2013 as Wildcard Distribution, releasing Irish hits including The Young Offenders, Black 47, and the Oscar-nominated Wolfwalkers. But in 2023 it removed Distribution from its name and added production to its remit.
Patrick O'Neill, Wildcard's managing director, told Variety that Kneecap pinged on a lot of people's radars among Irish filmmakers. People who knew Wildcard as a distributor of bigger Irish movies suddenly realized, as O'Neill put it, they are in production now.
The project reached O'Neill through Belfast producer Trevor Birney, who sought a partner in the Republic. With a budget of around $5 million, Kneecap fit Wildcard's appetite for smaller, daring indie features from first-time directors—while matching the comedy, music, and politics of its distribution slate.
How did Wildcard build momentum after Kneecap?
Wildcard followed Kneecap in 2024 with Aislinn Clarke's Irish folk horror Fréwaka. Variety's review called it an expertly conducted atmospheric exercise. Though it lacked Kneecap's headline notoriety, it ran Locarno and London before Shudder acquired it.
O'Neill noted that Fréwaka, made on a low budget through a domestic funding scheme financed entirely in Ireland, showed how indigenous Irish film could travel. That market-minded philosophy shapes every Wildcard production conversation.
Kneecap itself became a sensation—premiering at Sundance, picked up by Sony Pictures Classics, and submitted by Ireland for the Oscars international feature race. For more festival and streaming developments, see our Streaming & TV Alerts coverage.
What happened at Karlovy Vary for Learning to Breathe Under Water?
Rebekah Fortune's tear-jerker Learning to Breathe Under Water, starring Rory Kinnear and Maria Bakalova, earned rave reviews from its world premiere at the 2026 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. The film was shot in Galway on Ireland's west coast.
It returns home for its Irish premiere at the Galway Film Fleadh—the same festival where Wildcard's The Young Offenders world-premiered in 2016 and where Kneecap had its home debut. Wildcard produced alongside Jack Tarling's Shudder Films, with Bankside Films handling international sales.
Also premiering at Galway is another Wildcard production, the Christmas heist comedy You'll Never Believe Who's Dead, reuniting the company with Kneecap producer Trevor Birney.
What is Wildcard's next project with Mia Hansen-Løve?
Despite Wildcard's production arm being less than three years old, its pipeline is expanding. Wildcard is among the co-producers on Mia Hansen-Løve's upcoming Mary Wollstonecraft biopic If Love Should Die, with Renate Reinsve attached to lead. A portion will shoot in Ireland, where Wollstonecraft spent time.
Given Hansen-Løve's usual festival route, If Love Should Die could add Cannes to a list that already includes major bows for Kneecap, Fréwaka, and Learning to Breathe Under Water. Full details are in Variety's report.
For an Irish company that spent a decade distributing other people's hits, the arc from Kneecap to a Karlovy Vary standout to a European auteur's next film is the kind of splash most debut producers only dream about.