Skip to main content
Evil Does Not Exist film image

Evil Does Not Exist

悪は存在しない / Aku Wa Sonzai Shinai

This event has passed

After the extraordinary international success of the Oscar-winning Drive My Car, writer-director Ryusuke Hamaguchi turned away from the noise and quietly made this small-scale independent film, a work of simplicity and grace about a rural community and the developers who want to built a “glamping” retreat in the woods. The protagonist, Takumi, is a taciturn woodsman whose natural authority the developers seek to co-opt… but things don’t quite work out that way. Hamaguchi invests this all-too familiar ecological scenario not with drama, but with a rapt attention to Takumi’s way of life: how he chops wood, forages for mushrooms, or takes the measure of an icy stream. That’s not to suggest that nothing happens — there is conflict; change; tragedy — but rather than declare its intentions the film seeks to embody the patient virtues of living in harmony with nature, invites us to absorb them, and reflect.

 

Grand Jury Prize, Venice 2023

 

Community Partner

Director
Cast

Hitoshi Omika, Ryo Nishikawa, Ryuji Kosaka, Ayaka Shibutani, Hazuki Kikuchi

Credits
Country of Origin

Japan

Year

2023

Series

Showcase

Language

In Japanese with English subtitles

18+
105 min
Drama

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits

Producer

Satoshi Takata

Screenwriter

Ryusuke Hamaguchi

Cinematography

Yoshio Kitagawa

Editor

Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Azusa Yamazaki

Production Design

Masato Nunobe

Original Music

Eiko Ishibashi

Director

Ryûsuke Hamaguchi headshot

Ryûsuke Hamaguchi

Ryusuke Hamaguchi was born in Japan on December 16th, 1978. In 2008, Passion, his master degree graduate work from Tokyo University of Arts, was selected to the San Sebastian International Film Festival and Tokyo Filmex. In 2015, his film Happy Hour premiered at the 68th Locarno International Film Festival and won several awards. In 2021, Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at the 71st Berlinale. At the 74th edition of Cannes, Drive My Car won the Screenplay Prize and 3 independent prizes, including FIPRESCI. The following year it received 4 Academy Award nominations at the 94th Academy Awards, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay. It won the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film.

Filmography: Passion (2008); Happy Hour (2015); Asako I&II (2018); Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (2021); Drive My Car (2021)

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

Vulcanizadora

Dir. Joel Potrykus
85 min

In Joel Potrykus's singular, edgy comedy, two old friends venture into the woods to let off some fireworks and... other things.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Dir. John Cameron Mitchell
123 min

Released in 2001, John Cameron Mitchell's flamboyant rock musical about a gender-queer punk rock singer from East Berlin pushed the boundaries of queer cinema. It's both heartbreaking and empowering. Screening with the short The Human Voice.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

The True Story of Tamara De Lempicka & The Art of Survival

Dir. Julie Rubio
96 min

If Art Deco had a face, it was surely Tamara De Lempicka, giving us the side-eye at the wheel of a green Bugati in her famous self-portrait. Rubio's invaluable doc teases out the truths behind the myths, shedding light on De Lempicka's still underrated art.

Image: © 2024 TAMARA DE LEMPICKA ESTATE, LLC ADAGP, PARIS ARS, NY

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Magic Farm

Dir. Amalia Ulman
93 min

In Amalia Ulman's playful slow burner, a Vice-like camera crew wash up in a sleepy South American village and cook up a story that isn't there with the help of cynical locals eager to take the gringos for every cent.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Amiko

Dir. Yôko Yamanaka
66 min

Teenage rebel Amiko loves Radiohead but hates everything else about her boring and banal existence -- and her provincial high school above all. Then she meets a boy... The micro-budget debut of 19-year-old Desert of Namibia director Yôko Yamanaka.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Balloon

Dir. Pema Tseden
103 min

The young sons of virile Tibetan shepherd Dargye mistake their parents' condoms for balloons. Meanwhile Dargye is looking for a ram to impregnate his flock. Balloon is fascinated with ideas of potency, pregnancy, and the possibilities for female autonomy.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema