I Am Not a Witch

14 November 2016

Principal photography wraps this week on I Am Not a Witch, the debut feature film from BAFTA-nominated Welsh-Zambian filmmaker Rungano Nyoni.

I Am Not a Witch has been shooting for six weeks in Zambia’s capital Lusaka and the rural areas around it, and features a cast of non-professional actors from across the country, led by 9 year-old Maggie Mulubwa in the lead role of Shula, pictured here in the first image from the film.

David Gallego (Oscar®-nominated Embrace of the Serpent) is the film’s director of photography, the production designer is Nathan Parker, costume designer is Holly Rebecca (The Incident, also stylist to Solange Knowles), and George Cragg (The Yard) is the film’s editor.

I Am Not a Witch’s producers are Emily Morgan for Soda Pictures, Juliette Grandmont for Clandestine Films and Titus Kreyenberg for Unafilm. Executive producers are Eve Gabereau (Soda Pictures), Mary Burke (BFI), Hannah Thomas (Ffilm Cymru Wales), and Eva Yates and Daniel Battsek (Film4).

I Am Not a Witch is a present day African satire about beliefs in witchcraft, revolving around a 9 year old girl, Shula, who is accused of being a witch. Shula is the first child to be taken to a travelling witch camp, where she is tethered to a spool with a ribbon. She is told that should she cut the ribbon and attempt to escape, she will be cursed and transformed into a goat. Over time Shula begins to long for freedom. Forced to decide whether to accept her fate as a witch, Shula ignites a rebellion within the camp.

Producer Emily Morgan comments: “It’s been exciting seeing Rungano deliver on her truly original script with such emotive visual flare and her unique blend of fantasy and realism, amidst a variety of captivating Zambian landscapes. Like in her short film work, she’s bringing the story to life with remarkable performances from a cast of carefully selected non-actors.”

Rungano Nyoni is a self-taught writer/director who was born in Lusaka, Zambia and grew up in Wales, UK. Her short films have been screened and selected at over 400 international film festivals including Cannes, Toronto, Rotterdam, BFI London Film Festival, Locarno and Tribeca. Her most recent short as writer/director, Listen, was selected at over 150 film festivals and won over 70 prizes including the Oscar® qualifying Best Short Narrative Prize at Tribeca Film Festival (2015) and a nomination for Best Short Film at the 2015 European Film Awards.

In 2011 Rungano Nyoni wrote and directed Mwansa the Great, which was part financed by Focus Features’ Africa First programme, and was selected at over 100 international film festivals, winning over 20 prizes and earning nominations for an African Academy Award and a BAFTA. In 2012 she wrote short film The Mass of Men, which was selected at over 180 film festivals, winning over 70 awards, including the Golden Leopard at Locarno Film Festival.

 

I Am Not a Witch is a UK-French co-production financed by the BFI, Film4, Ffilm Cymru Wales, Aide aux Cinémas du Monde (CNC-Institut français), the Berlinale’s World Cinema Fund and HBF+Europe: Minority Co-production support. The film has been developed with the support of the BFI NET.WORK with National Lottery funding for new and emerging UK filmmakers, Ffilm Cymru Wales, and has also benefitted from development support from Cannes Cinefondation Residency 2013, Moulin D’Ande Residency 2014, IFP No Borders Prize 2013, ARTE Prize 2014, Vision Sud Est Development Funding via Locarno Film Festival and HBF Development support.

Soda Pictures will distribute I Am Not a Witch in the UK. International sales TBC.

 

NOTES TO EDITORS

SODA PICTURES

Soda Pictures is a London-based all-rights film distribution company, with a division in Canada, specialising in arthouse, independent and world cinema. Established in 2002 by Eve Gabereau and Edward Fletcher, the company releases 25+ films a year and has a library of over 300 titles. 

They have released such groundbreaking films as Fatih Akin’s Head-On, Tran Ahn Hung’s Norwegian Wood, Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive, Lenny Abrahamson’s Garage, Kelly Reichardt’s Old Joy, Meek’s Cutoff and Night Moves, Christian Petzold’s Barbara and Phoenix both starring Nina Hoss, from Saudi Arabia Wadjda, Brazilian award-winner The Second Mother, Icelandic breakout hit Rams, French thriller Disorder starring Matthias Schoenaerts and Diane Kruger and the Oscar nominated documentary Finding Vivian Maier, as well as on the Canadian side Lone Scherfig’s The Riot Club, Ben Wheatley’s High-Rise starring Tom Hiddleston and the Western Slow West starring Michael Fassbender. They also have a partnership with Miramax Films under which they released The Ninth Life of Louis Drax starring Jamie Dornan and Southside with You based on the Obama's first date in 1989. 

Upcoming they have the critically acclaimed Cannes competitors Paterson starring Adam Driver and German comedy Toni Erdmann, as well as Terence Davies’ Emily Dickinson biopic A Quiet Passion starring Cynthia Nixon, stop-motion animation My Life as a Courgette, Korean 1920s-set Resistance genre hit Age of Shadows and documentary David Lynch: The Art Life. Soda Pictures is part of the Thunderbird Films Group, a film and television production company based in Vancouver with additional offices in Toronto and Los Angeles, who are behind the Netflix Original Series Beat Bugs and Executive Producers of the upcoming Blade Runner sequel.

CLANDESTINE FILMS

Based in Paris, Clandestine Films is an independent film company, run by the former journalist, Juliette Grandmont. Credits include as producer: The Misfortune of François Jane, by Patrick Pearse (Palais de Tokyo), Ich bin Eine Terroristin, by Valérie Gaudissart (Mostra S. Paolo) and "Shanghai-Belleville", by Show-Chun Lee (les ateliers de la cinéfondation du Festival de Cannes), « El cielo, la tierra y la lluvia » by Jose Luis Torres Leiva, (Rotterdam Film Festival), « Huacho » by Alejandro Fernandez Almendras (Cannes Critic’s Week) and « El Custodio » by Rodrigo Moreno (Berlinale competition). She made her debut as junior producer on international coproduction for the company Artcam International: "Platform" by Jia Zhang Ke - China (Venice, Competition), "The Road" de Darezhan Omirbaev - Kazakhstan (Cannes, Un Certain Regard) and "Angel on the Right" by Djameshed Usmonov - Tajikistan (Cannes, Un Certain Regard), "Le Chignon d'Olga" by Jérôme Bonnell (Rotterdam Film Festival). She also produced 27 shorts and medium-length films that have won awards at festivals such as Clermont Ferrand and been nominated for a César.

 

UNAFILM

Unafilm produces feature films Straight forward and artistically challenging, fiction and documentary National and international.

The company’s films compete in internationally acknowledged film festivals around the world - Berlinale, Cannes, Toronto, San Sebastian and Karlovy Vary among them.

The German-Swiss coproduction Colours in the Dark with Bruno Ganz was a major success in German cinemas, the German-Turkish coproduction Our Grand Despair by Seyfi Teoman premiered in competition at the Berlinale 2011. Heli by Amat Escalante was selected to the official competition in Cannes 2013 to win the award for Best Director.

In 2014 unafilm was present in Cannes’ Official Selection with its coproduction The Bridges of Sarajevo. The Cologne and Berlin–based unafilm is an active member of ACE, EAVE, AG DOK, the German and the European Film Academy.

BFI FILM FUND

Films supported by the BFI include this year’s Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or winner I, Daniel Blake directed by Ken Loach and the Jury Prize award winning American Honey by filmmaker Andrea Arnold, Amma Asante’s A United Kingdom and Ben Wheatley’s Free Fire which were the opening and closing galas respectively at this year’s BFI London Film Festival, Roger Mainwood’s Ethel & Ernest, Colm McCarthy’s The Girl With All The Gifts, Jim Hosking’s The Greasy Strangler, John Michael McDonagh’s War on Everyone, Ben Wheatley’s High-Rise starring Tom Hiddleston; Sarah Gavron’s Suffragette, John Crowley’s BAFTA-winning and Oscar® nominated  Brooklyn; James Spinney and Peter Middleton’s Notes on Blindness, Sean McAllister's A Syrian Love Story, BAFTA-nominated and Grand Jury prize winner at Sheffield Doc/Fest, Yorgos Lanthimos’ BAFTA-nominated and 2015 Cannes Competition selection The Lobster, Andrew Haigh’s Berlin award winning and BAFTA and Oscar® nominated 45 Years.

 

Highly anticipated films backed by the BFI include William Oldroyd’s Lady Macbeth, Andrew Haigh’s Lean on Pete, Rungano Nyoni’s I Am Not A Witch, Clio Barnard’s Dark River, Lynne Ramsay’s You Were Never Really Here, Andy Serkis’ Breathe, Sophie Fiennes’ Grace Jones - The Musical of My Life, Gurinder Chadha’s Viceroy’s House, Nick Park’s Early Man, Paddy Considine’s Journeyman, Lucy Cohen’s Fly Away, Michael Pearce’s Beast, Peter Mackie Burns’ Daphne, Alex Taylor’s Spaceship, Francis Lee’s God’s Own Country, Hope Dickson Leach’s The Levelling, Thomas Clay’s Fanny Lye Delivr’d, Haifaa Al Mansour’s A Storm in the Stars, Mercedes Grower’s Brakes, and Pete Travis’ City of Tiny Lights.

 

The BFI is the lead organisation for film in the UK with the ambition to create a flourishing film environment in which innovation, opportunity and creativity can thrive by:

• Connecting audiences to the widest choice of British and World cinema
• Preserving and restoring the most significant film collection in the world for today and future generations
• Championing emerging and world class film makers in the UK - investing in creative, distinctive and entertaining work
• Promoting British film and talent to the world 
• Growing the next generation of film makers and audiences

 

bfi.org.uk / @bfi

 

FILM4

Film4 is Channel 4 Television’s feature film division. Film4 develops and co-finances films and is known for working with the most distinctive and innovative talent in UK and international filmmaking, whether new or established.  

Film4 has developed and co-financed many of the most successful UK films of recent years, Academy Award®-winners such as Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave, Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire, Lenny Abrahamson’s Room, Alex Garland’s Ex Machina, Asif Kapadia’s box office record breaking documentary Amy and Phyllida Lloyd’s The Iron Lady, in addition to critically-acclaimed award-winners such as Mike Leigh’s Mr. Turner, Chris Morris’s Four Lions, Shane Meadows’ This is England, Clio Barnard’s The Selfish Giant, Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin and David Mackenzie’s Starred Up.

Film4’s recent releases include Andrea Arnold’s American Honey, Ben Wheatley’s High-Rise, Susanna White’s Our Kind of Traitor, Todd Haynes’ Carol, Sarah Gavron’s Suffragette, Justin Kurzel’s Macbeth, Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Lobster, Andrew Haigh’s 45 Years and Paolo Sorrentino’s Youth. Forthcoming releases include Ang Lee’s Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, Ben Wheatley’s Free Fire, Benedict Andrews’ Una, Adam Smith’s Trespass Against Us, Baltasar Kormákur’s The Oath and Danny Boyle’s T2. Films in production include Clio Barnard’s Dark River, Andrew Haigh’s Lean on Pete, Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Michael Pearce’s Beast, Lynne Ramsay’s You Were Never Really Here, Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Paddy Considine’s Journeyman, John Cameron Mitchell’s How To Talk To Girls At Parties and Toby MacDonald’s Old Boys.

For further information visit www.film4.com/productions

FFILM CYMRU

Ffilm Cymru Wales supports the development of a creative, innovative and inclusive film culture. Through funding and professional advice, we support emerging and established filmmaking talent to reach new audiences, explore new ideas to maximise the value of film, and engage with the educational and economic benefits that film brings to the rich culture of Wales.

www.ffilmcymruwales.com

 

CNC-INSTITUT FRANÇAIS

Aide aux Cinémas du Monde managed by CNC and Institut français - lends its support to foreign filmmakers conducting a co-production project with France. Accessible to all nationalities, this fund, in an effort to encourage International coproduction, is open to fiction feature films, animation and creative documentaries.

WORLD CINEMA FUND

The WCF concentrates on backing the production and distribution of feature films and creative feature-length documentaries in regions with a weak infrastructure for film: Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, the Caucasus, Southeast Asia, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Mongolia.

Since 2004 the WCF supports films that stand out with an unconventional aesthetic approach, tell powerful stories and transmit an authentic image of their cultural roots. German partners and co-producers are the recipients of the financing support but the WCF funds must be spent in the WCF regions and countries.

The special programme WCF Europe was set up in 2015 to strengthen further co-productions between European co-producers and directors and producers from WCF Europe regions and countries, while fostering cooperation between distributors of the same geographical areas.

In 2016 the World Cinema Fund in cooperation with the German Federal Foreign Office launched a special funding opportunity for projects from Sub-Saharan Africa

The World Cinema Fund is an initiative of the German Federal Cultural Foundation and the Berlin International Film Festival with the support of the Federal Foreign Office and in further cooperation with the Goethe Institute. WCF Europe was created with the support of Creative Europe MEDIA, a programme of the European Union

HUBERT BALS FUND

The Hubert Bals Fund is designed to help remarkable or urgent feature films by innovative and talented filmmakers from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and parts of Eastern Europe on their road to completion. It provides grants that often turn out to play a crucial role in enabling these filmmakers to realise their projects.

Since the founding of the fund in 1989, more than a 1,000 projects of independent filmmakers from Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Africa and Latin America have received support.

Through HBF+Europe: Minority Co-production support, the Hubert Bals Fund aims to encourage European producers to participate as a minority co-producer in high-quality film projects by filmmakers from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and parts of Eastern Europe. HBF+Europe is supported by the Creative Europe - MEDIA programme of the European Union.