Drama starring Maggie Mulubwa. A young girl who arrives in a Zambian village is accused of being a witch. As she cannot disprove the claims, she is sent to a "witch camp" where she is forced into labour, and where locals seek to exploit her reputation for their own gain.
Following in the rich tradition of Ousmane Sembene's Xala (1974), Welsh debutante Rungano Nyoni exposes the clashes between tradition and progress that impact upon modern-day Zambia. After a woman accuses her of using evil powers to make her spill a bucket of water, an eight-year-old orphan (Maggie Mulubwa) is sent to a witch camp run by an exploitative leader (Henry BJ Phiri). Adopted by the other elderly inmates, she finds herself on a TV chat show promoting the leader's eggs after he claims she can solve crimes and predict rainfall. But behind the droll satire is a sombre denunciation of the superstition, ignorance and prejudice that enables the corrupt elite in so many African countries to intimidate the lower classes and oppress women. Drawing on her observations in a Ghanaian witch camp, Nyoni opts for an elliptical approach that occasionally confuses, but Mulubwa's exceptional impassivity and David Gallego's unsettlingly striking imagery help keep this focused and fascinating.
| role | name |
|---|---|
| Shula | Maggie Mulubwa |
| Mr Banda | Henry B J Phiri |
| Charity | Nancy Murilo |
| Mama | Margaret Sipaneia |
| role | name |
|---|---|
| Director | Rungano Nyoni |
