Cineteca di Bologna will present the director’s cut of Ken Russell’s uncompromising 1971 masterpiece The Devils, screened for the first time on 35mm film.

This year marks the 55th anniversary of the first release of The Devils, distributed in Italy under the title I diavoli. As part of the 40th edition of Il Cinema Ritrovato festival (20–28 June 2026), and following its Cannes Classics premiere at the 79th Cannes Film Festival, Warner Bros. Clockwork will present Ken Russell’s The Devils: the 4K restoration of the uncut and previously unreleased version of the film. 
This cut was originally reconstructed in 2004 under the supervision of Ken Russell and the film’s editor Michael Bradsell with the collaboration of Mark Kermode and Paul Joyce. The 4K restoration was completed using the original camera negative at WB Water Tower Color, with audio restoration completed using original composite 35mm mag film at WB Sound.
In addition to powerhouse performances from Reed and Redgrave, Ken Russell’s The Devils showcases the stunning work of artists at the peak of their craft: Academy Award-winning cinematographer David Watkin; editor Michael Bradsell; and visual artist Derek Jarman, whose work as production designer marks his feature film debut.
The historical events on which the film is based, dating back to the reign of Louis XIII, inspired numerous adaptations, including Aldous Huxley’s 1952 novel and John Whiting’s 1961 play, both of which informed Russell’s screenplay.

The film is a visionary, grotesque and baroque fresco exposing — with striking contemporary parallels — the diabolical collusion between church and political power.
The film’s frenzied, near-mad atmosphere and Russell’s provocative tone drew the hostility of contemporary censorship boards. In Italy the film was seized and later cleared for release.
Despite these cuts, The Devils was unanimously endorsed by the selection committee of the 32nd Venice Film Festival, which included Alessandro Blasetti, Vittorio De Sica, Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti and Valerio Zurlini. Its critical reception in the following decades has only become more impassioned, championed by filmmakers and scholars such as Guillermo del Toro and Mark Kermode.

The screening of Ken Russell’s The Devils will offer Il Cinema Ritrovato audience the opportunity to rediscover the British director’s most controversial and censored film, finally restored to its original and definitive version.