The Devil's Playground

Fred Schepisi’s The Devil’s Playground (1976) draws on his own teenage experiences to explore faith, desire and repression. Centred on 13-year-old Tom Allen (Simon Burke), it follows the cross-generational struggles of students and Brothers living within the strict routines and quiet tensions of a Catholic boarding school in Victoria.

This sensitive portrait of adolescence and belief, along with cinematographer Ian Baker’s painterly images of Werribee Park, earned the film both local and international acclaim, including six AFI Awards and selection for Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight.

Following the success of Schepisi’s next film, The Devil’s Playground was re-released internationally in the early 1980s. Legendary New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael wrote, “I don’t really see how this film could be much better” – praise that helped cement its place as a landmark of Australia’s New Wave cinema.