I Am Not a Witch

“The child is a witch,” exclaim the villagers in the opening of this strikingly beautiful first feature by Rungano Nyoni. When young Shula is accused of witchcraft in her village, she is exiled, constrained in her movements, and expected to perform miracles; however, she is not prepared to live this way forever. Employing breathtaking composition, Nyoni layers magical realism, satire, and social critique to blur reality with the surreal in this original and unforgettable story.

“Shot in and around Zambia’s capital city Lusaka, and cast with non-professionals, the story is approached with a kind of deadpan eccentricity. . . . The sometimes declamatory delivery only heightens the sense of matter-of-fact oddness.”—Wendy Ide, Screen Daily

“What makes I Am Not a Witch unique . . . is Nyoni’s abundant, maybe even overabundant directorial confidence. It’s rare and exhilarating that a new filmmaker arrives on the scene so sure of herself and so willing to take bold, counterintuitive chances.”—Jessica Kiang, Variety