Censor

Prano Bailey-Bond's first feature, set in 1985, about a film censor cutting the exact titles catalogued in THE LIST.

Enid is good at her job and believes in it: she watches the tapes so nobody else has to, and she sincerely thinks the cuts protect people. Then a film in the submission pile appears to show her sister, who disappeared when they were children.

What makes it more than a gimmick is that it takes the censor seriously rather than mocking her. The tabloid campaign, the naming of examiners in the press, the belief that an image can leak into the world and cause harm: the film treats all of that as a genuine position held by frightened people, and then follows it to the end of its logic.

The aspect ratio and grain shift as Enid does. Watch it after browsing the list.