How did Ryusuke Hamaguchi make “Evil does not exist?”
With Eiko Ishibashi: From “Drive My Car” to “Evil Does Not Exist”
Film director Ryusuke Hamaguchi directed “Drive My Car” in 2021 based on a short story written by Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami. It was critically acclaimed, and won Oscar 2022 for Best International Film. But there was more to it. Eiko Ishibashi, who wrote the score for the movie, also won the Discovery of the Year Award at the World Soundtrack Awards in Ghent, Belgium.
Eiko Ishibashi is a singer-songwriter who plays multiple instruments
including drums, piano, flute, and vibraphone.
She frequently works with Jim O’Rourke.
She’s also been writing scores for films since 2011.
Ishibashi enjoyed working with Hamaguchi. When she was offered to perform music with videography, she asked him if he would be interested. “He is a film director, not a videographer. But I wanted to work with someone I really enjoyed working with. He is an excellent storyteller, but his works are also like music poetry. He is insightful, compassinate, and always trying to be free from various restrictions. I was certain that we could create something really interesting together.
That’s how “Evil does not exist” started.
From Music Video to a Film
Hamaguchi recalled: “To start the project, Ishibashi and I exchanged some sample music and images. But as we kept communicating, I started feeling that my ‘music video’ wouldn’t match the quality of her music. I needed to make a film.” Hamaguchi ended up writing a script. His idea was to shoot a film first, and then edit the footage to make a video for her performance. “After we finished shooting, I was pretty excited about what we pulled off. Everyone’s performance exceeded my expectations.” It became a real movie – “Evil Does Not Exit” – with Ishibashi’s beautiful music.
From “Evil Does Not Exist” to “GIFT”
Ishibashi recalled: “I was confident about Hamaguchi’s talent, so I knew this was going to be a great project. But still, it was quite an experience to go through the process. I was in awe every time I saw new elements such as the script, images and footages. I wrote music basking in excitement. I am still in awe.
And Ishibashi is coming back to Ghent, Belgium where she won the Discovery of the Year Award at the World Soundtrack Awards.
On October 18, 2023, she will be performing for the world premier of “GIFT” at the Film Fest Gent the VIDEODROOM programme.
Multi-instrumentalist & composer Eiko Ishibashi and Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Ryûsuke Hamaguchi have teamed up once again following their successful collaboration on the critically acclaimed feature film Drive My Car. This new film, titled Gift and written and directed by Hamaguchi, will world premiere with a live score performed by Ishibashi at Film Fest Gent in the VIDEODROOM programme, a partnership between the festival and Arts Centre VIERNULVIER.
