Arthouse streamer Mubi has picked up worldwide rights for Witches, the new documentary feature from British director Elizabeth Sankey (Romantic Comedy) and will roll out the movie globally following its world premiere in the Viewpoints section of the Tribeca Festival in June.
Inspired by Sankey’s own struggles with mental health, the film draws connections between postpartum depression and the history and cinematic representation of witches in Western society.
“I started making Witches soon after being released from the psychiatric ward [for postpartum illness] as a way of trying to process what had happened to me,” said Sankey. “I researched the history of women in medicine and found they were once the main healers in their communities, but that ended with the 16th century witch trials. I also read about the women of this period who “confessed” to being witches without torture. Their symptoms were the same as mine – depression, suicidal ideation, and the pressure to be a good mother. I realized how little has changed – women still struggle to ask for help because they’re ashamed, or don’t understand what they are feeling.”
Sankey uses voiceover, film clips, and interviews with historians, medical professionals and fellow sufferers to juxtapose fictional depictions of witches with the real-life stories of women with mental health illnesses.
Sankey wrote, directed and edited Witches. Manon Ardisson (God’s Own Country) and Chiara Ventura (Romantic Comedy) produced for Ardimages U.K., together with Jeremy Warmsley (Romantic Comedy) for Montgomery Avenue Productions and MUBI, in association with Garden Studios.
Mubi released Sankey’s 2019 directorial debut, the documentary Romantic Comedy, in the U.K. The streamer plans to roll out Witches worldwide next year.
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