A senior government employee and his wife continue to exploit other people's belief that Shula is a witch by asking her to perform tasks like summoning rainfall.

In her research for the film, she traveled to Ghana and spent time in a real witch camp, observing their daily life and rituals.

[10] Mark Kermode from The Observer gave the film four out of five stars, praising Nyoni's work, David Gallego's cinematography and Mulubwa's performance, and wrote: "Rungano Nyoni’s debut feature, the story of a girl in Zambia accused of witchcraft, is comic, tragic – and captivatingly beautiful"[7] Jessica Kiang from Variety, also praised Gallego’s cinematography, and stated: "Nyoni’s approach may itself be a little too chaotic, and a little too oblique to be fully comprehensible (in particular her counterpointing music cues can overreach, and some of the narrative ellipses confuse).

But in the investigation of the dichotomies of ancient and modern, familiar and alien, prosaic and mystical, she clearly has a great deal she wants to say, and now, thanks to this invigorating, intriguing and provocative debut, she has a whole career ahead of her in which to say it".

[11] Anna Smith, writing for Time Out, gave I Am Not a Witch four out of five stars, stating: "impressively, debut writer-director Rungano Nyoni makes this heady mix work".

A fable-like story about a young African girl banished from her village for alleged witchcraft, it blends deadpan humor with light surrealism, vivid visuals and left-field musical choices".