TAKUMA KUIKURO is an internationally acclaimed filmmaker and curator whose work has been showcased at top-tier events such as the Venice Biennale and the Glasgow Science Centre, where it was featured in the lead-up to COP26 in 2021. With his roots in the Ipatse village, a Kuikuro community located in the Alto Xingu Indigenous territory in Brazil’s Amazon basin, Takuma learned his craft through the pioneering Video nas Aldeias project and has since produced several notable films, including The Day When the Moon Menstruated (2004) and The HyperWomen (2012). His latest film, Jungle Fever, is a captivating reflection on the Xingu communities’ struggle to protect their habitat and preserve their ecosystem and rare species in the rainforests.
In recognition of his outstanding contributions to filmmaking, Takuma has received numerous awards and accolades, including an Honorary Fellow Award from Queen Mary University of London in 2017. He is also among 12 notable filmmakers from around the world, including Faouzi Bensaidi and Isabella Rossellini, to have contributed a short film to the anthology project Interactions, produced by Art For The World. As a trailblazer in Indigenous filmmaking and culture, Takuma founded the first-ever film festival dedicated to these themes in Brasilia in 2022, and he is also the founder and curator of the Indigenous Film Festival in the UK.
During March and April 2015, Takumã was our Artist in Residence supported by Brazil’s Ministry of Culture and FUNARTE in partnership with British Council TRANSFORM as part of Culture Brasil Connection. This residency enabled him to make – London as a Village / Londres como Aldeia – which was screened in the Ipatse de Kuikuro and Kalapalo villages in the Xingú territory as part of our research project, The Art of Cultural Exchange. Following Takumã’s Festival premieres, PPP hosted a short tour of screenings of the film with UK partners in Spring 2016 alongside talks with Takumã to schools and educational institutions.