Witches

Elizabeth Sankey fell ill after giving birth. She had postpartum psychosis and was treated. In telling this the documentary sets two things side by side: her own story and images of witches in cinema. To Sankey the two come from the same place; through history most women accused of witchcraft were in fact ill, alone, or not permitted to grieve. The film uses archive clips and places between them the accounts of women describing their own experience. Elizabeth Sankey directs and is the narrating voice. Catherine Cho is among those speaking; Cho wrote a book about postpartum psychosis and describes being hospitalised against her will. Thirteen people speak in the film and Sankey is one of them. The clips used include titles such as Suspiria, The Craft and Practical Magic. It premiered at the Tribeca Festival in 2024; MUBI distributed it and it runs 90 minutes. The matter it treats is that mental health in motherhood cannot be spoken about; the documentary ties that to a historical pattern. Its strongest side is Sankey's own course of treatment; the narrative does not ornament it. Its limit is method; the link between the witch film and the illness is strained at times and the historical claims passed over quickly. Who it is for: viewers who like personal documentary and cultural reading through cinema. Who it is not for: the subject is heavy, the structure close to an essay, and the argument open to dispute.