Witches

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Witches

2024

1h 30m

Documentary

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

83%

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18 Reviews

Popcornmeter

0 Ratings

Sankey delves into the portrayal of witches in cinema, using her own personal experiences with motherhood and mental health as a powerful lens. Drawing on an extensive archive of film clips from classics like The Wizard of Oz and Suspiria, Sankey explores how cultural representations of witches reflect deeper societal views on women, motherhood, and mental illness.

Leslie Felperin

Guardian

All in all, this is a powerful example of a bricolage-like editing technique that relies heavily on exploiting the copyright laws around fair use to create a prismatic, provocative style of cinema that’s very 21st century.

Rated: 4/5

Nov 23, 2024

Full Review

Nell Minow

RogerEbert.com

The personal is political, but in this film that case is made more powerfully with the personal story than the flurry of clips or the theories about history.

Rated: 3/4

Nov 22, 2024

Full Review

David Jenkins

Little White Lies

So the film mutates a little bit from playful essay to necessary advocacy doc, yet in its final passages Sankey also manages to ingeniously thread the needle between her two subjects.

Rated: 4/5

Nov 22, 2024

Full Review

Marissa Hill

Shade Studios

While the witch metaphor may feel overplayed at times, the film’s strongest theme lies in the value of community and solidarity among women.

Jul 30, 2025

Full Review

Alise Chaffins

MacGuffin or Meaning (Substack)

It shows the ugliness of mental illness, but it also shows how women can find community in one another and help find wholeness again. Sometimes, you just need your coven.

Rated: 4.5/5

Jul 15, 2025

Full Review

Michael Nordine

Movie Brief

Sankey, who survived her own trial, has fashioned a moving tribute to the countless women who did not.

Rated: 3/4

Jan 17, 2025

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Elizabeth Sankey

Director

Sophia Di Martino

Self

Elizabeth Sankey

Writer

Elizabeth Sankey

Screenwriter

Manon Ardisson

Producer

Chiara Ventura

Producer

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Synopsis

Sankey delves into the portrayal of witches in cinema, using her own personal experiences with motherhood and mental health as a powerful lens. Drawing on an extensive archive of film clips from classics like The Wizard of Oz and Suspiria, Sankey explores how cultural representations of witches reflect deeper societal views on women, motherhood, and mental illness.

Director: Elizabeth Sankey
Producer: Manon Ardisson, Chiara Ventura, Jeremy Warmsley
Screenwriter: Elizabeth Sankey, Elizabeth Sankey
Production Co: Ardimages UK, Montgomery Avenue
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Runtime: 1h 30m