John Carney's newest offering Sing Street is already generating a huge Irish buzz ahead of its release this week, but it's been making waves on the other side of the pond too.

The film, set in 1980s Dublin and telling the story of an awkward teen (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) who starts his own band to impress a girl (Lucy Boynton), has been doing the international film festival circuit over the last few months – and it happened to catch the eye of one very famous rapper.

After seeing Sing Street over in the US, hip-hop legend Jay-Z was apparently so impressed that he personally made contact with Carney.

"John [Carney] got an email from Jay-Z to say he loved the movie," 16-year-old Walsh-Peelo told the Irish Independent this week.

And it seems Bey's husband wasn't the only musician who was impressed with the film, which features tunes from bands like Duran Duran, The Cure and Spandau Ballet.

"[At the premiere] Sting was sitting next to me… apparently he loved the movie," Walsh-Peelo added.

Sing Street doesn't get its official cinema release here until March 17, but it was the opening film for last month's Jameson Dublin Film Festival, and it received a massive standing ovation at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah back in January.

"It’s kind of a memoir of my days in school, and a school band back in the Eighties in Dublin," says Carney.

Check out the trailer below: