Motherwitch

After the accidental death of her children, painter Eleni is shunned by her fellow villagers for bringing a curse upon them. Inconsolable and isolated, Eleni tries to resurrect her children through an image-making ritual, only to unleash furious otherworldly forces.

Cyprus, 1882. In a village under British occupation, immigrant painter Eleni suffers an unspeakable tragedy, losing all three of her children in a freak accident. Grieving in isolation, she meets Michalakis, an artistically gifted boy tyrannised by his abusive father. With his help, Eleni tries to resurrect her dead children, but her ritual ends up summoning malevolent creatures that threaten to take Michalakis away.

Artmaking and motherhood serve as the twin engines that drive Minos Papas’ pastoral horror-fantasy Motherwitch. Drawing inspiration from the folklore of his native Cyprus, its sandstone houses and its sun-kissed landscapes, Papas tells a layered tale of grief and redemption that weaves through myth and history, Christianity and paganism, and terror and compassion. As the son of filmmakers (his father’s film The Lifetaker screened at IFFR 1976), Papas continues the family legacy.      

Sustained through its eerie atmosphere and savvy mix of jump scares, the horror in Motherwitch is only a twisted reflection of the human world. Papas’ exquisitely shot film handles grotesque, even pulpy elements of the genre with sincerity and attention. In doing so, it creates a resonant modern fairy tale that feels both rooted in myth and timeless.

– Srikanth Srinivasan

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