Mind The Gap Productions will kick off sales in Cannes next week on the narrative feature Guillotine, which explores the history of the notorious killing machine and is narrated by Sean Young (Blade Runner, No Way Out) in the first voice-over work of her career.
Ray Izad-Mehr makes his feature directorial debut on the film which is told through the lens of five true stories. It charts the guillotine’s role in history and how it reflected power structures and attitudes towards capital punishment from the French Revolution to the fall of Saddam Hussein.
“I witnessed a public execution when I was six years old in Iran,” said Izad-Mehr, who moved to the United States at the height of the Iran-Iraq War. “Shortly after, my father took me to see the film Papillon. The infamous guillotine execution scene was unforgettable.
Izad-Mehr continued, “What was it in us that could forgive violence committed on another human, if the killer’s arm is veiled in the cloth of a bureaucrat? It was something that was in the back of my mind while making this film.”
Speaking of her interest in narrating Guillotine Young said, “I was moved by the humanity and humour of the film. It takes a special vantage point to place these events in such a way so as to ignite the imagination and entertain without being preachy.
“It’s so much fun to work off screen for once,” Young added. “Narrating this film really gave me a taste for doing more voice-over work.”
Giulia Prenna of Mind The Gap Film Productions & Sales said, “The guillotine is one of the most recognisable and menacing tools ever created and yet has never really been featured on screen, until now. And what better place to bring it to market than in France.”
Guillotine is produced by Ozon Films in co-operation with Throne Inc and is produced by Izad-Mehr, Sara Vahabi, Uriah Herr, and Tamas Birinyi.
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