About

While Britain is torn apart by a civil war in 1645, Matthew Hopkins (Vincent Price) and his assistant John Stearne roam the country to expose witches. They receive a reward for each witch they capture. They arrive in a village where a priest is rumored to be involved with Satan. This needs to be investigated, and the two get to work… Witchfinder General (1968) is a typical British folk-horror film, featuring violent and unsavory events. Loosely based on a true story. Fun fact: the lead actor, Vincent Price, couldn’t stand director Michael Reeves, and his pent-up anger resulted in him delivering the best performance of his life. The film is part of our special program, The Unholy Trinity of Folk Horror. After the screening on 7 February Dr. Johanneke Kroesbergen-Kamps will give a lecture about the social-political context of witch-hunts, ‘The Threatening Other’ and satanism. Johanneke Kroesbergen-Kamps is an anthropologist of religion with an interest in beliefs about forces of evil, such as conspiracy theories, witchcraft accusations and narratives about satanic elites. Her book Speaking of Satan in Zambia: Making cultural and personal sense of narratives about Satanism is an in-depth investigation into popular testimonies of ex-Satanists and accusations of Satanism in Zambia and discusses their history as well as the relevance for audiences, pastors, and those who confess to a past as a Satanist. The book is available in open acces at https://books.aosis.co.za/index.php/ob/catalog/book/373. She has furthermore written about witchcraft in various African countries and contributed to the Dutch inquiry into ritual child abuse (Commissie Hendriks, 2022). She works as lecturer in religious studies at the University of Amsterdam. Johanneke Kroesbergen-Kamps

Location

Hosted by

Studio K

Tickets