I am Not a Witch has been selected to represent the U.K. in the 2019 Academy Awards’ foreign language category.
The debut feature from Rungano Nyoni, which first bowed in Cannes in 2017, is set in present-day Zambia and takes a darkly comical look at real-life African “witch camps,” following a child who is charged with being a witch and then tethered to a spool by a ribbon and told that, should she attempt to escape, she’ll be cursed and transformed into a goat.
Speaking to THR ahead of the film’s Cannes debut, the Zambia-born, Wales-raised Nyoni explained how the story was inspired by actual accusations of witchcraft made while she visited the country one summer. “My neighbor accused her grandmother of turning into a snake in front of her,” she said.
Backed by Film4 and The British Film Institute, I Am Not a Witch has earned several awards so far, notably the 2018 BAFTA for outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer, plus three wins from 10 nominations at the British Independent Film Awards in 2017.
