The film will be released in cinemas in October, ahead of a new season that will take place at the BFI Southbank in the summer 2027.
It has been announced that Ken Russell’s The Devils will be released in cinemas on the 30th October via BFI Distribution in partnership with Warner Bros. Clockwork. Fully restored in 4K and cut to Ken Russell’s specific direction, The Devils is the first publicly released version of the film as intended by the filmmaker.
Fifty-five years after its initial release, the definitive version of the film was unveiled at the 79th Cannes Film Festival as an official selection in Cannes Classics. Warner Bros. Clockwork will be releasing the film in all other territories, beginning with the US on 16 October for an exclusive one-week engagement.
Starring Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave, The Devils is a film about obsession and corruption. It is inspired by the the true story of 17th-century priest Urbain Grandier, accused of bewitching a convent of nuns, the film lays bare the collusion of church and state through a searing vision of religious persecution, collective hysteria and institutional corruption.
Among those also involved with the film were : Academy Award®-winning cinematographer David Watkin (Out of Africa, Chariots of Fire); editor Michael Bradsell (Local Hero, Jabberwocky); and visual artist Derek Jarman (Jubilee, Caravaggio), whose work as production designer marked his feature film debut.
Produced by Warner Bros. in 1971, the film received Best Director awards from two of the most prestigious institutions in the world: the 33rd Venice International Film Festival and the U.S. National Board of Review.
Stuart Brown, BFI Director of Programme and Distribution said: “Ken Russell’s The Devils is one of the great masterpieces of British cinema: a film of astonishing imagination, searing power and dazzling formal brilliance. The BFI is thrilled to be partnering with Warner Bros. Clockwork to present the new restoration, which reveals anew the extraordinary artistry of Oliver Reed, Vanessa Redgrave, Derek Jarman and the many others who collaborated to create a truly singular work. The BFI has long supported Ken Russell’s film and television work across BFI Southbank, BFI home entertainment and BFI Player, and so it is a fitting privilege to help bring this landmark restoration to audiences across the UK and Ireland.”
To mark the centenary of Ken Russell’s birth on the 3rd July 1927, in July and August 2027 BFI Southbank will present an extensive retrospective for one of Britain’s truly pioneering figures. Spanning more than five decades of restless creativity, the season will explore Russell’s extraordinary work, from his amateur films of the 1950s through the form-breaking BBC productions of the 1960s that transformed the possibilities of television arts broadcasting, before he embarked on one of the most distinctive careers in world cinema.