Throughout our film history, governments try to monitor and approve on what movies audiences can watch. From the recommended audience rating systems to outright bans, the British decades had an agency that watches horror films for its blood, gore, violence, and nudity.

Prano Bailey Bond took that as an inspiration to create Censor, a film about a woman who works in that agency and starts to blur the lines between horror and reality. The film stars Niamh Algar in the lead role.

Here’s the official synopsis:

Film censor Enid takes pride in her meticulous work, guarding unsuspecting audiences from the deleterious effects of watching the gore-filled decapitations and eye gougings she pores over. Her sense of duty to protect is amplified by guilt over her inability to recall details of the long-go disappearance of her sister, recently declared dead in absentia. When Enid is assigned to review a disturbing film from the archive that echoes her hazy childhood memories, she begins to unravel how this eerie work might be tied to her past.

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LRM Online’s Gig Patta spoke with director/writer Prano Bailey-Bond and actress Niamh Algar. We talked about the psyche of Enid, the 80s cinematography, and the must-watch horror movies that serve as the inspiration for this film.

Niamh Algar was named one of Screen International’s “Screen Stars of Tomorrow” in 2018 and the following year was selected by BAFTA as one of their Breakthrough Brits. In December 2020, Algar was nominated for two British Independent Film Awards for Nick Rowland’s Calm With Horses and released in the United States with the title of The Shadow of Violence. Currently, she can be seen in Ridley Scott’s television directorial debut Raised By Wolves on HBO Max. Also, she co-stars alongside with Jason Statham in Guy Ritchie’s Wrath of Man.

Prano Bailey-Bond is a Welsh director and screenwriter. Recently, she was named a 2021 Variety “Director to Watch” and also Screen International “Star of Tomorrow” in 2018. In 2016, her short film Shortcut was featured as part of the shorts strand Fright Bights that broadcast on British TV Channel 4 and playing in international film festivals. Another short film Nasty in 2015 screened over 100 film festivals worldwide that won many awards, including Best International Short at Fantaspoa and the Women in Horror Film Festival.

Censor is in select theaters today and then On Demand beginning June 18.

Watch the exclusive interview below with Niamh Algar and Prano Bailey-Bond. Let us know what you think.

Source: LRM Online Exclusive, Magnet Releasing