There were mixed reactions to the screening of the Polish film Playground in the official Section yesterday. While some members of the audience, shocked by the violence, left the cinema before the film was over, others applauded enthusiastically when it came to an end.

Playground has clear parallels with James Bulger’s murder in Liverpool in 1993 when a toddler was abducted from a shopping mall. The director, Bartosz M. Kowalski said he was devastated when he learnt about this case and began to research into psychopathy in children.