Sideshow and Janus Films have acquired all North American rights to Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist from M-Appeal, ahead of its world premiere in Competition at the Venice Film Festival.
The partners plan a theatrical release for the feature, which is the follow-up to Japanese filmmaker Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car, winner of the Oscar for international feature film last year. The film was also Oscar-nominated for best picture, directing and adapted screenplay, having premiered in Competition at Cannes in 2021 where it won four awards including best screenplay.
The acquisition reunites Sideshow and Janus Films with Hamaguchi after Drive My Car, which marked the first collaboration between the two companies.
After Venice, Evil Does Not Exist will go on to play in Special Presentations at Toronto and the main slate of the New York Film Festival.
The film has already been acquired for France (Diaphana), UK & Ireland (Modern Films), Italy (Tucker and Teodora), Spain (Caramel Films), Benelux (September Film Distribution), Taiwan (Andrews Film) and Portugal (Leopardo Filmes).
The story follows a father and daughter who live quietly in Mizubiki Village, close to Tokyo. One day, the village inhabitants become aware of a plan to build a glamping site near their home, which offers city residents a comfortable ‘escape’ to nature. It soon becomes clear that the project will cause turbulence in their life.
The “origin story” of Evil Does Not Exist is an artistic collaboration between Ryusuke Hamaguchi and musician and composer Eiko Ishibashi. This has resulted in two new works: a live score film performance titled Gift, led by Ishibashi, and the new feature from Hamaguchi, for which Ishibashi has written the score.
For Gift, Ishibashi will be performing with multiple instruments, electronics, and recordings live on stage with a film (based on the same source material as Evil Does Not Exist, but shorter and silent, with word cards) projected behind her. Gift will only exist as a live score film performance, which will world premiere at Film Fest Gent on October 18 before being performed at further film and music festivals – no film version will be distributed.
Since Drive My Car, Sideshow and Janus Films have collaborated on Jerzy Skolimowskli’s Oscar-nominated EO, and recent acquisitions include Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Cannes title About Dry Grasses, Catherine Breillat’s Last Summer and Wim Wenders 3D documenary Anselm.
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