Women’s History Month: Prano Bailey-Bond

Biography

Prano Bailey-Bond is a director and writer who grew up on a diet of Twin Peaks in the depths of a strange Welsh community. Named a 2021 ‘Director to Watch’ by Variety and a Screen International ‘Star of Tomorrow’, her strong body of work invokes imaginative worlds, fusing a dark vocabulary with eerie allure. Her debut feature CENSOR had its world premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, opening the Midnight section of the festival. The films’ European premiere will be at the Berlin Film Festival, playing the Panorama section.

When was the first time you realised you wanted to make films?

I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t obsessed with film but initially I thought I wanted to be a performer. It was during college when I directed a play – a version of Ionesco’s The Chairs – that I realised I wanted to direct – to craft and shape a production from the outside. Straight after this experience I started applying these ideas to film instead of theatre.

What was the last project you worked on / made?

My debut feature film CENSOR, which recently premiered at Sundance Film Festival and will have its European premiere at Berlin Film Festival. It’s a psychological horror film, or perhaps a mystery about horror, that follows a film censor working during the ‘video nasty’ era in 1980’s Britain.

What are you up to now? // What is the next project you’re working on?

Alongside the continued festival journey and release of CENSOR, I’m writing a couple of feature films and a TV series.

Useful links:

Check out the many other female filmmakers telling unique stories in Wales here.

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