Considered one of the most controversial films of all time for its graphic, blasphemous, and sexually provocative imagery, Ken Russell‘s “The Devils” is now back in cinemas uncut and uncensored.
Re-released in 4K by Warner Bros. imprint Clockwork some 55 years after its controversial debut, the new director’s cut of the film — which premiered this year in Cannes and later the London Film Festival — has given an entirely new generation the chance to discover Russell, often considered the overlooked “wild man” of British cinema.
Timed to the release — and an upcoming retrospective of his work being presented next year by the British Film Institute — the director’s son and fellow filmmaker Rupert Russell has unveiled “Mad Dad,” a feature documentary described as the “definitive portrait of Ken Russell.” Russell teamed up with Anna Hashmi, producer and founder of The Corner Shop on the project, which is also being produced by Andy Starke of Anti-Worlds Films and Sam Cryer of Intermission Films, with Daniel Bergmann of Stink Films as executive producer.
In “Mad Dad,” Rupert sets out on a tragicomic journey to discover who his enigmatic father really was: the dad and the director, the art and the artist, the myth and the man, the accolades and the absurdity. At the heart of the story are the unseen family archives, featuring hundreds of personal letters, thousands of photographs, and several home movies – not to mention Russell senior’s own autobiographical docudrama “A British Picture,” in which Ken played his own antagonists and Rupert, aged four, played the young Ken.
Contributors to the doc include family members who have never spoken publicly before and legends of
film and music such as Guillermo del Toro, Steven Soderbergh, Kathleen Turner, Pete Townshend,
Oliver Stone, Twiggy, Ann-Margret and many more.
Rupert Russell’s other works include “Freedom for the Wolf,” which won the Audience Award at
Slamdance Film Festival and was nominated for the Cinema for Peace Most Valuable Film of the
Year Award during Berlinale 2019. His second documentary, “Price Wars” — which he also wrote as a book, published by Doubeday, aired on ARTE. His most recent film, “The Last Sacrifice,” received a theatrical release in 2025 and was acquired by the horror streamer Shudder.
The Corner Shop continues to expand its film production slate. It recently received BFI funding for “The Mammoths That Escaped the Kingdom of Erlik Khan” with two-time Oscar-nominated director Tamara Kotevska. Last year saw the release of another feature with Kotevska, “The Tale of Silyan,” which premiered at Venice and TIFF, sold to Nat Geo, won awards at IDA, Cinema Eye, Venice, Humanitas and Chicago, and received two Emmy nominations.