Rungano Nyoni Zambia 2017 | 93 minutes

Rungano Nyoni is truly one of the genuine emerging cinematic voices in African cinema. This was already clear with her 2009 short film Mwanza the Great. With I am Not a Witch, the Zambian-Welsh director offers us an absurdist, surrealist and feminist satire of this “bio-political technology” of gender and age-based marginalization known as “witchcraft” through the compelling story of nine-year old Shula who is accused of being a witch and ends up quarantined in a witch camp.  Using primarily non-professional actors, this first major fiction and feature film from Zambia, featuring several Zambian languages (Bemba, Nyanja and Tonga) required the audition of over 900 children to find its protagonist played by Maggie Mulubwa. I am Not a Witch premiered at the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes and the UK’s 2017 Oscar submission.