9.—12. july 2026

Jäneda mõis, Lääne-Viru maakond
Back to home

Cinema

African cinema, domestic cult films, children’s programs. H.G. Wells’ science fiction program, experimental classics of 70s genre cinema and film journeys to the Moroccan desert or the heat of Mexico City. This year, Kikumu will screen the cinema in the manor building.

Rolling Papers

The Wound

The Terror of the Gulls

Chainsaws Were Singing

Little Amélie or the Character of Rain

Island of Lost Souls

Sirât

Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel

Arco

The War of the Worlds

Vampir-Cuadecuc

Queer

Kratt

Soft Landing

Programme

All screenings have an introduction, some are followed by a discussion.

Thursday, 09.07

  • 17:00
    Estonian cult film:Rolling Papers
  • 19:30
    African cinema:The Wound
  • 22:00
    Estonian cult film:The Terror of the Gulls + Chainsaws Were Singing
  • 23:00
    World Cup quarter-final France-Morocco

Friday, 10.07

  • 13:00
    Children's program:Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
  • 16:00
    Wells' sci-fi:Island of Lost Souls
  • 19:00
    Cinematic journey:Sirat
  • 22:00
    Estonian cult film:Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel
  • 22:00
    World Cup quarter-final Spain-Belgium

Saturday, 11.07

  • 13:00
    Children's program:Arco
  • 16:00
    Wells' sci-fi:The War of the Worlds
  • 19:00
    Genre experiment:Cuadecuc, vampir
  • 22:00
    Cinematic journey:Queer
  • 00:00
    World Cup quarter-final Norway-England

Sunday, 12.07

  • 13:00
    Estonian cult film:Kratt

Rolling Papers

KIKUMU has been created out of a need to live a meaningful life and to find purpose in our shared future. This is also exactly what this film by young Estonian auteur Meel Paliale in this urban cityscape called Tallinn is all about.

Director Meel Paliale
Estonia, 2024
98 min

The Wound

Xolani, a lonely factory worker, travels to the rural mountains with the men of his community to initiate a group of teenage boys into manhood.

After the screening, South African film enthusiast and curator Lwando Faku will join the audience for an open conversation reflecting on the film, its themes, and the wider context of African cinema.

Director John Trengove
Republic of South Africa/Germany, 2017
88 min

The Terror of the Gulls

The well-known fact that the first seagull was born in the small Estonian town of Loksa might not be true after all. Are these white demons capable of more than we think? Could they have been behind the mysterious Loksa catastrophe of 1955? There’s no better place to find out what really happened than the historical premises of Jäneda.

Film is showed alongside “Chainsaws Were Singing”.

Director Matiias Viiking Ojaveski
Estonia, 2026
30 min

Chainsaws Were Singing

Adventures await when new lovers are separated by a chainsaw killer.

Director Sander Maran
Estonia, 2024
117 min

Little Amélie or the Character of Rain

First episode of the KIKUMU children’s film programme. Amélie is a little Belgian girl born in Japan. Thanks to her friend Nishio-san, life is a succession of adventures and discoveries.

But on her third birthday, a single event changes everything. Because for Amélie, everything is at stake at her age, happiness as well as tragedy.

NB! The film will be screened in Estonian, without subtitles.

Directors Liane-Cho Han Jin Kuang and Mailys Vallade
France, 2025
77 min

Island of Lost Souls

A twisted treasure from Hollywood’s pre-Code horror heyday, Island of Lost Souls is a cautionary tale of science run amok, adapted from H. G. Wells’s novel The Island of Dr. Moreau. Wells has a connection to Jäneda as he used to spend his holidays here in the 1930s.

Director Erle C. Kenton
USA, 1932
70 min

Sirât

Sirāt is a gripping, visceral, and metaphysical thriller by Galician filmmaker and Festival favourite Oliver Laxe showing you the beautiful essence and the feeling of safeness that a little patch of grass under your feet can create.

Director Oliver Laxe
Spain/France, 2025
115 min

Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel

An anonymous tip-off sends Inspector Peter Glebsky to the “Dead Mountaineer’s” Alpine hotel. But it is not until the isolated inn is cut off from the outside world by an avalanche that there is actually a murder – of one of the notable, but eccentric guests.

Director Grigori Kromanov
Estonia, 1979
84 min

Arco

Second episode of the KIKUMU children’s film programme. In 2075, Iris, a 10-year-old girl, sees a mysterious boy in a rainbow suit fall from the sky. It’s Arco. Iris will take him in and help him by any means possible to get home.

NB! The film will be screened in Estonian, without subtitles.

Director Ugo Bienvenu
France/USA/UK, 2025
82 min

The War of the Worlds

Our second Wells-inspired screening is an end-of-civilization classic that receives a chilling Cold War–era update, complete with hallucinatory Technicolor and visionary, Oscar-winning special effects. Emblazoned with iconographic images of 1950s science fiction, The War of the Worlds is both an influential triumph of visual imagination and a still-disquieting document of the wonder and terror of the atomic age.

Director Byron Haskin
USA, 1953
85 min

Vampir-Cuadecuc

This experimental version of the Bram Stoker classic was shot on the set of Jesús Franco’s Count Dracula, featuring Christopher Lee. Portabella dissects the Dracula movie, using it as a metaphor for the magic and suspension of disbelief that go into the audience experience of narrative cinema. Part documentary, part personal cinema, Portabella’s film is a distinctive look at a ubiquitous horror tale.

Screening within Acció Portabella, the international programme celebrating the 100th birthday of Pere Portabella.

Director Pere Portabella
Spain, 1970
69 min

Queer

1950. William Lee, an American expat in Mexico City, spends his days almost entirely alone, except for a few contacts with other members of the community. His encounter with Eugene Allerton, an expat former soldier, shows him that it might be finally possible to establish an intimate connection.

Director Luca Guadagnino
Italy/USA, 2024
137 min

Kratt

Children are left at grandma’s without smartphones. Real life seems boring until they find instructions for a kratt – magical creature who will do whatever its master says. All they have to do now, is to buy a soul from the devil…

Director Rasmus Merivoo
Estonia, 2021
109 min

Soft Landing

Soft Landing aka Brunch Cinema aka short films from Egypt, Ghana, South Africa and Senegal

 

A gentle closing to the festival — a space to slow down, gather, and reflect through a selection of short films. Moving between urban encounters, inner worlds, and moments of tension and stillness, the programme invites a softer, more open viewing experience shaped by rhythm, atmosphere, and everyday life.

 

“Microbus”
Director Maggie Kamal
Egypt, 2021
8 min

A shared minibus journey becomes a vivid portrait of city life, where strangers collide in moments of tension, humour, and fleeting connection.

 

“Tsutsue”
Director Amartei Armar
Ghana, 2022
15 min

A quietly observed story of everyday life, where small gestures and moments unfold with warmth, rhythm, and a sense of calm presence.

 

“Mångata”
Director Maja Costa
Senegal, 2023
15 min

A poetic sci-fi meditation following a solitary figure navigating light, distance, and isolation in a quiet, contemplative landscape.

 

“Punter”
Director Jason Adam Maselle
South Africa, 2024
14 min

A young boy moves through the precarious world of informal gambling, where risk, survival, and chance shape his everyday reality.

Stay updated!

Join KIKUMU newsletter.

KiKuMu • 9.-12.07 • Jäneda Õppekeskus, Lääne-Virumaa
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.