Kikuyu Land examines the legacy of British colonial land seizures in Kenya
The continuing consequences of British colonial land seizures in Kenya are explored in Kikuyu Land, an investigative documentary heading to UK cinemas this October following a festival run that has taken it from Sundance to Sheffield DocFest.
Directed by Andrew H Brown and Bea Wangondu, the film is set among Kenya’s tea highlands, where land taken from indigenous communities during British colonial rule became the basis for vast commercial plantations. At its centre is Mr Mungai, who is seeking restitution for ancestral land seized from his family.
What begins with Mungai’s individual fight gradually opens onto a wider history of dispossession. His case draws in local news producer Wangondu, whose investigation uncovers connections to her own family history, while the film also follows Stephen, the son of a tea worker growing up on the plantations at the heart of the dispute. Moving between their experiences, the documentary considers how events dating back to the colonial period continue to shape lives and questions of land ownership today.
Kikuyu Land premiered in the World Cinema competition at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival before competing for the F:ACT Award at CPH:DOX and screening at Movies That Matter. It went on to win Best Documentary Feature at Mountainfilm before receiving its UK premiere at Sheffield DocFest.
For Wangondu, the feature also has a personal connection to the histories it investigates. “Kikuyu Land is rooted in experiences and histories that have shaped my family and community,” the filmmaker said of bringing the documentary to British audiences.
The UK release brings that story to the country whose colonial history sits at the centre of the film’s investigation. By following a present-day fight over ancestral land rather than treating dispossession solely as a historical event, Kikuyu Land examines how questions of ownership, inheritance and accountability remain unresolved generations later.
The editorial unit
Kikuyu Land is released nationwide on 2nd October 2026.
