"The people in Fred Schepisi's The Devil's Playground are like sculpted figures that glow with their own light." - New Yorker

The Devil's Playground revolves around Tom Allen, a 13-year-old boy growing up in the rigorous confines of a 1950s Catholic seminary and torn between the demands of the priesthood and his own burgeoning sexuality.

A winner of multiple AFI awards, including Best Screenplay and Best Director, The Devil's Playground (MIFF 1976) was writer-director Fred Schepisi's semi-autobiographical feature film debut. A stark yet sensual study of the imminence of desire, even amidst the most austere of surrounds, Schepisi's film was at the time a deeply controversial portrait of religious sexual repression.

Fred Schepisi, whose new film The Eye of the Storm also screens in this year's program, is a guest of the Festival.

Print courtesy of The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia.

D/P/S Fred Schepisi WS Fred Schepisi TD 35mm/1976