Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s environmental drama Evil Does Not Exist has won the best film award in official competition at the BFI London Film Festival (LFF), which closed today (October 15).
A statement from the competition jury read, “Subtle, cinematic and underscored by fully realised performances, Hamaguchi’s assured drama supersedes the sum of its parts.
“It is both a lyrical portrait of family and community, and a nuanced consideration of the ethics of land development. Amidst a strong competition the jury is unanimous in our admiration!.”
Scroll down for the full list of winners
Evil Does Not Exist debuted in competition at Venice last month, where it won the Grand Jury Prize. The film depicts a community fighting to preserve its principles and the integrity of their natural world in the midst of a camping site development near their village.
Thanking his cast and crew plus the judges, Hamaguchi singled out composer Eiko Ishibashi, who also provided the concept for the film, for gratitude. “I believe her music played a significant role in bringing this movie to completion and helped it to receive such great reviews,” said Hamaguchi.
Mika Gustafson’s Paradise Is Burning received the Sutherland award for best film in the First Feature competition. A Venice premiere in the Horizons section, the Sweden-Italy-Denmark-Finland co-production follows three sisters who look for a stand-in for their mother, who often disappears for long stretches of time.
“What a journey. Not only was this a remarkable first feature, but a film that in its own right has such clarity of cinematic language and vision,” said the jury. “Its compelling universe was so complete and effortlessly executed. Nothing has been left untended to in this film, we were THERE, not like a fly on the wall or an intruder; it held us in its arms and it didn’t let us go.”
A third Venice premiere won the LFF Grierson award in the Documentary competition: Lina Soualem’s Bye Bye Tiberias, an exploration of her relationship with her mother, Succession actress Hiam Abbass.
Soualem, a French-Palestinian-Algerian filmmaker, thanked the jury, “for celebrating the stories of the Palestinian women of my family.”
“The stories passed on by these women weave the history of a people deprived of its identity and constantly bound to reinvent itself,” said Soualem. “With our words, we fight against erasure. I wanted to seize their stories before they vanish into oblivion, to preserve the images of a world that is disappearing fast. Images that stand as proof of a denied existence.
“At a time when we feel unseen, and more stigmatized than ever, at a time when we don’t know what tomorrow will be like, our films will always exist to remember us,” said Soualem, gesturing towards the current conflict in Gaza without directly naming it.
The Short Film award went to Simisolaoluwa Akande’s The Archie: Queer Nigerians.
Mexican filmmaker Amat Escalante headed the Official Competition jury. Rye Lane director Raine Allen-Miller led the First Feature jury, while Rubika Shah headed the Best Documentary group and Scrapper filmmaker Charlotte Regan ran the Short Film jury.
Voting for the Audience Awards opens on the BFI website today and closes at 23.59 BST on Thursday, October 19. Four awards will be given: best feature, documentary, British film/work and best XR.
Evil release
Best Film winner Evil Does Not Exist was acquired by Modern Films for UK-Ireland distribution in August ahead of its Venice launch; Screen unveiled the first trailer for the film earlier this month.
It is the latest collaboration between Modern and Japanese filmmaker Hamaguchi; the distributor released his Cannes 2021 Competition entry Drive My Car in November 2021, grossing £303,587 before the film won the Oscar for best international feature the following year.
LFF closes this evening with the world premiere of Kibwe Tavares and Daniel Kaluuya’s The Kitchen.
LFF 2023 winners
Best Film in Official Competition
Evil Does Not Exist, dir. Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Sutherland Award in First Feature Competition
Paradise Is Burning, dir. Mika Gustafson
Grierson Award in Documentary Competition
Bye Bye Tiberias, dir. Lina Soualem
Short Film Award
The Archive: Queer Nigerians, dir. Simisolaoluwa Akande
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