Sõpruse filmiprogramme at Kikumu

African cinema, Estonian cult classics, a children's programme, H.G. Wells-inspired science fiction, and experimental genre films from the 1970s. The Kikumu Film Programme returns to Jäneda from July 9–12. This year, screenings will take place in the manor house cinema, and the programme has been designed to offer something both for young film enthusiasts and for viewers seeking deeper cinematic experiences.

The Kikumu film programme is eclectic and reflects the diverse spirit of the festival as a whole. Audiences can embark on journeys through adaptations of works by science-fiction writer H.G. Wells, experience the eerie atmosphere surrounding Dracula film productions, and discover a taste of African cinema.

British author H.G. Wells, born in 1866, was one of the writers whose works helped establish the science-fiction genre. In the summer of 1934, Wells stayed in Jäneda, where he completed the third volume of his memoirs. The festival programme includes several films inspired by his writing.

Among them is American director Erle C. Kenton’s 1932 film Island of Lost Souls, based on Wells’s novel The Island of Doctor Moreau. Remarkably relevant in today’s age of artificial intelligence, the film explores the creation of beings that develop their own consciousness and begin to escape the control of their presumed masters.

Based on Wells’s most famous novel, Byron Haskin’s 1953 film The War of the Worlds won the Academy Award for Best Special Effects and serves as a reminder of the nuclear anxieties that shaped the 1950s.

Spread across the four festival days is the programme “For the Love of African Cinema,” curated by Liis Pihl and Lwando Faku. It opens with John Trengove’s 2017 film The Wound. The film follows Xolani, a lonely factory worker who travels with men from his community to remote mountains to conduct a traditional coming-of-age initiation ceremony for teenage boys. After the screening, South African film enthusiast and curator Lwando Faku will lead a discussion about the film’s themes and the broader context of African cinema.

The African cinema programme concludes with a selection of short films from Egypt, Ghana, South Africa, and Senegal. Across four films, encounters in bustling cities alternate with moments of personal reflection. The Sunday programme includes:

Microbus (dir. Maggie Kamal, Egypt)
Tsutsue (dir. Amartei Armar, Ghana)
Mångata (dir. Maja Costa, Senegal)
The Gambler (dir. Jason Adam Maselle, South Africa)

The Kikumu programme also features Spanish director Pere Portabella’s 1970 film Cuadecuc, Vampir. This experimental interpretation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula was filmed alongside the production of fellow Spanish director Jesús Franco’s Count Dracula, which starred horror legend Christopher Lee, later known to many as Saruman in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Film scholar and Portabella expert Adrián Onco will attend the festival to introduce the film.

In the children’s cinema programme, younger festivalgoers can enjoy two Oscar-nominated French animated films: Little Amélie and the science-fiction adventure Arco. Both films will be screened with Estonian dubbing.

Among the Estonian films featured are:

Long Papers (Pikad paberid) by Meel Paliale
Matiias Viiking Ojaveski’s new short film Terrorizing Winged Creatures (Terroriseerivad tiivulised)
Chainsaws Were Singing (Mootorsaed laulsid, 2024) by Sander Maran
The cult classic Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel (Hukkunud Alpinisti hotell) by Grigori Kromanov
Kratt by Rasmus Merivoo

The festival will also screen Oliver Laxe’s five-time European Film Award winner Sirât and Luca Guadagnino’s Queer (Kväär). In addition, visitors can watch FIFA World Cup quarter-final matches taking place during the festival evenings.