Sitges-Bound Cypriot Horror ‘Motherwitch’ Sells To North America

EXCLUSIVE: L.A.-based Dark Star Pictures has acquired North American rights for Cyprus-set horror Motherwitch ahead of its screening in the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia next week.

The acquisition was brokered by Arnaud Chevalier under the banner of his Paris-based sales boutique B-Rated International Sales.

In further deals the film has sold to Poland (Velvet Spoon) and has also been acquired for France and Spain by Shadowz.

Set on the island of Cyprus in 1882, the film blends horror and folklore and evolves around Eleni, an outcast painter whose three children die in a freak accident.

Shunned by locals, who believe she is cursed, Eleni turns to ancient rituals to resurrect her dead offspring but instead summons malevolent folkloric creatures known as the Kalikantzari.

Motherwitch is the third feature of U.S.-based Greek-Cypriot director and cinematographer Minos Papas, after Shuttering (2009) and Behind the Mirror (2015).

Lead-produced by Nicosia-based Caretta Films, the film was shot on location in Cyprus in a remote uninhabited 15th-Century village.

It was co-production with the Deputy Ministry of Culture of Cyprus and was supported by the Republic of Cyprus through its “Invest In Cyprus” financial incentive as well as the Film Agency of North Macedonia.

The film recently received a gala screening in Nicosia ahead of going on theatrical release on the island at the end of October.

Motherwitch world premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam earlier this year and has since played in more than 20 festivals. It screens in the Noves Visions section of Sitges.