Gregory’s working class family, which includes a drug addicted father, wants him to pursue a career in medicine, for which he’s won a scholarship. While his future seems assured, and his escape from the poor village of Paramin at hand, Gregory seeks more artistically challenging subjects. When a wealthy benefactor, James, arrives, the young man will be plunged into a world of theater and photography. Here he finds himself the sexual subject of an older and wealthier man, and begins to question everything in his life. Both paths are about to collide at Trinidad and Tobago’s Carnival Monday, in the “Jab” dance, where Gregory, dressed in blue and carrying a trident, takes on the role of the devil himself, and will confront his past, present, and future in a way that will change everyone’s life. Play the Devil is only the second film from Trinidad and Tobago in forty years.
Director’s Biography
Maria Govan: A self-taught filmmaker, Maria Govan speaks of her interest in Play the Devil in Screen Daily: “Being someone who is queer and comes from the Caribbean and had a rough time dealing with it, it fascinated me, this idea of how violence comes into our lives. I kept asking myself what is the devil and for me it’s denial. Denial wreaks havoc.” Play the Devil is her second feature.
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