I Am Not a Witch
| I Am Not a Witch | |
|---|---|
 British release poster | |
| Directed by | Rungano Nyoni |
| Written by | Rungano Nyoni |
| Produced by | Juliette Grandmont Emily Morgan |
| Starring | Maggie Mulubwa |
| Cinematography | David Gallego |
| Edited by | George Cragg Yann Dedet Thibault Hague |
| Music by | Matthew James Kelly |
| Distributed by | Artificial Eye (United Kingdom) |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 93 minutes |
| Countries | United Kingdom France Germany Zambia |
| Languages | English Bemba Nyanja |
| Box office | $152,960[1] |
I Am Not a Witch is a 2017 drama film written and directed by Rungano Nyoni in her feature debut film.
It was screened in the Directors' Fortnight section at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival and won the BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer for Nyoni and producer Emily Morgan at the 71st British Academy Film Awards.[2][3][4] It was selected as the British entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.[5][6]
Plot
[edit]A serious little girl shows up in a village and it is quickly decided she is a witch. When she refuses to answer questions confirming or denying she is a witch, she is taken to a witch doctor who sacrifices a chicken to determine whether she is a witch or not. Believing she is a witch, the local authorities take her to a small camp made up of elderly witches, each of whom is tied to their own large spool of white ribbon. The girl is restrained with a ribbon like the other witches and forced into labour. One of the elder witches names her Shula.
Shula is taken away to adjudicate at a trial where an elderly man has claimed that money has been stolen from him. When the suspects are lined up Shula does not know which one is the thief and calls the other witches who give her contradictory advice on how to catch the thief. Nevertheless, Shula is able to correctly guess who the thief is and is rewarded for it. A senior government employee and his wife continue to exploit other people's belief that Shula is a witch by asking her to perform tasks like summoning rainfall. Shula is gradually exposed to what the wider community thinks of witches and is occasionally threatened with violence.
After an appearance on a chat show, where a caller asks why she is not in school, she is sent to a school, where the other pupils, like Shula, are those that have been deemed unacceptable for mainstream schools. A witch doctor and a farmer drag her away from the school by her ribbon and ask her to make it rain. She performs a rain dance and exhausts herself trying to produce results. That evening the women back at camp ask her why she is unhappy and in response she says that she wishes she had opted to become a goat. When the women are asleep she's seen leaving the tent and gathering her ribbon to its end.
In the morning two men dump a body in the field and the 'witches' are seen mourning for Shula, although it's ambiguous how she died or whether it is even her body. As the women celebrate her death it begins to rain. The truck that carries the women around is shown to be empty. The ribbons that held them hostage are flying free and in the distance a goat bleats.
Cast
[edit]- Maggie Mulubwa as Shula
- Nellie Munamonga as Police Officer
- Dyna Mufuni as Leader
- Nancy Murilo as Charity
- Becky Ngoma as Bwalya
- Henry B.J. Phiri as Mr. Banda - the Government Official
- Margaret Spinella as Mama
- James Manaseh as Witch Doctor
- Margaret Z. Mwale as Mwape
- Miriam Nata as Florence
- Selita Zulu as Mubango
- Goodfellow Kayuni as Grandfather
- John ng'Ambi as Nelson
- Leo Chisanga as Drunk Man
- Azzion Nyrenda as Teacher
Production
[edit]Writer-director Rungano Nyoni was inspired by actual stories of witchcraft accusations in Zambia. In her research for the film, she traveled to Ghana and spent time in a real witch camp, observing their daily life and rituals.[7][8]
Reception
[edit]On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 96% based on 78 reviews, with an average rating of 7.50/10.[9] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 79 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[10]
Mark Kermode from The Observer gave the film four out of five stars, praising Nyoni's work, David Gallego's cinematography and Mulubwa's performance, and wrote: "Rungano Nyoni’s debut feature, the story of a girl in Zambia accused of witchcraft, is comic, tragic – and captivatingly beautiful"[7] Jessica Kiang from Variety, also praised Gallego’s cinematography, and stated: "Nyoni’s approach may itself be a little too chaotic, and a little too oblique to be fully comprehensible (in particular her counterpointing music cues can overreach, and some of the narrative ellipses confuse). But in the investigation of the dichotomies of ancient and modern, familiar and alien, prosaic and mystical, she clearly has a great deal she wants to say, and now, thanks to this invigorating, intriguing and provocative debut, she has a whole career ahead of her in which to say it".[11]
Anna Smith, writing for Time Out, gave I Am Not a Witch four out of five stars, stating: "impressively, debut writer-director Rungano Nyoni makes this heady mix work".[12] Stephen Dalton from The Hollywood Reporter called the film: "A winningly original and stylistically fresh debut feature from the young Zambia-born Welsh director Rungano Nyoni, I Am Not a Witch is one of the more buzzy premieres screening in the Directors' Fortnight in Cannes. A fable-like story about a young African girl banished from her village for alleged witchcraft, it blends deadpan humor with light surrealism, vivid visuals and left-field musical choices".[13]
Accolades
[edit]I Am Not a Witch gathered several wins and nominations in many important film festivals and film awards, including a win at the 71st British Academy Film Awards for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer and 10 nominations and three wins at the British Independent Film Awards 2017.[14] It won Feature Fiction award at the 2017 Adelaide Film Festival.[15]
See also
[edit]- List of submissions to the 91st Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
- List of British submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
References
[edit]- ^ "I am Not a Witch (2017)". The Numbers. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
- ^ "Fortnight 2017: The 49th Directors' Fortnight Selection". Directors' Fortnight. Archived from the original on 19 April 2017. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
- ^ Keslassy, Elsa (19 April 2016). "Cannes: Juliette Binoche-Gerard Depardieu Drama to Kick Off Directors Fortnight". Variety. Penske Business Media. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
- ^ "Rungano Nyoni 'outstanding debut' Bafta for I Am Not A Witch". BBC News. 18 February 2018. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
- ^ "I Am Not a Witch, Selected as U.K.'s Entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards". Broadway World. 20 August 2018. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
- ^ Mitchell, Robert (22 August 2018). "Oscars: U.K. Selects BAFTA Winner 'I Am Not a Witch' as Foreign-Language Entry". Variety. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
- ^ a b Kermode, Mark (22 October 2017). "I Am Not a Witch review – magical surrealism". The Observer. Guardian News and Media. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
- ^ Aftab, Kaleem (18 October 2017). "I Am Not a Witch director on the modern persecution of witches in Zambia and Ghana". The Independent. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
- ^ "I Am Not a Witch (2017)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
- ^ "I Am Not a Witch". Metacritic. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
- ^ Kiang, Jessica (26 May 2017). "Cannes Film Review: 'I Am Not a Witch'". Variety. Penske Business Media. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
- ^ Smith, Anna (17 October 2017). "I Am Not a Witch". Time Out London. Time Out Group. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
- ^ Dalton, Stephen (25 May 2017). "'I Am Not a Witch': Film Review - Cannes 2017". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
- ^ Clarke, Stewart (1 November 2017). "'Lady Macbeth' Tops Nominations for British Independent Film Awards". Variety. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
- ^ "Feature Fiction Award". Adelaide Film Festival. 8 June 2020. Retrieved 10 September 2020.