Set to premiere at BIFF, we have your first look at Franck Ribiere‘s The Most Assassinated Woman In the World, which is set against the backdrop of the infamous Theatre Grand Guignol.

The story revolves around iconic actress Paula Maxa (Anna Mouglalis) – the most famous of the Grand Guignol’s leading ladies and the titular Most Assassinated Woman, who was graphically slain on stage multiple times a day.

The name Franck Ribière may not ring a bell, but the site explains that he’s the producer of Álex de la Iglesia (Witching and Bitching, The Perfect Crime, The Oxford Murders, The Last Circus) and a string of other Spanish movies (Cell 211, Extinction, El niño). His fiction debut, freely inspired by historical events, is a suspenseful theatre thriller described in the vein of The Illusionist and The Prestige.

BIFFF writes:

“Who was the most assassinated woman in the world? This dubious honor befell Paula Maxa, the star of the Grand Guignol Theater in the Pigalle district of Paris at the beginning of the 1930s. On stage, she was murdered more than 10,000 times in at least 60 different ways and raped at least 3,000 times. In the dramatized film version, we meet an imperturbable woman who hides a terrible family secret. Writer and director André de Lorde, nicknamed “The Prince of Terror”, practically keeps her under lock and key with the help of a psychiatrist. Until one day, a young journalist pays a visit for an article he’s writing and he starts suspecting the famous theatre is somehow involved with a series of gruesome murders. Upon meeting Paula, he falls head over heels in love and he also learns about her painful past. Will he be able to save her from the clutches of the shady characters surrounding her?”