Venice-Bound ‘Evil Does Not Exist,’ Directed by Oscar Winner Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Sells to Germany, Korea, Austria, Turkey (EXCLUSIVE)

Unassuming Japanese master Ryusuke Hamaguchi was jolted into the dehumanizing glare of the Oscar machine after “Drive My Car” became an unexpected cause célèbre a few years ago. That generational masterpiece saw him ascend to the pinnacle of instant and unanimous global adoration and forged a salivating fanbase eagerly anticipating his subsequent work.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Oscar-winning Korean actor Youn Yuh-jung (“Minari,” “Pachinko”) will headline the Actors’ House section of the upcoming Busan International Film Festival, it was announced on Thursday. Introduced in 2021, Actors’ House is a special series that connects audiences and film enthusiasts with iconic actors from the current generation through its in-depth discussions. “There’s much anticipation to hear her words of wisdom, as she’s known for her insightful observations,” said the festival. Others this year include: Han Hyo-joo, Song Joong-ki and Korean-American actor and author John Cho.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Film Constellation has sealed a first raft of pre-sales in key territories on French female-led revenge feature “Animale,” directed by Emma Benestan (“Fragile”) and starring César winner Oulaya Amamra (“Divines”). The pre-sales include Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy (Plaion), Spain (Filmin), Portugal (Nos Lusomundo), former Yugoslavia (MCF Megacom) and Middle East and North Africa (Falcon). Wild Bunch Distribution will release “Animale” in French theaters next year.

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Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s latest, Evil Does Not Exist, received a 7-minute, 50-second ovation at its Venice Film Festival world premiere on the Lido on Monday. The applause for the director of last year’s Best International Feature Oscar winner Drive My Car only ended when Hamaguchi and his team got up to leave.

Jessica Kiang A wild deer with a hunter’s bullet in its belly may attack a human, no matter how mild its nature normally. This is one of the droplets of woodland wisdom dispensed by the otherwise taciturn Takumi (Hitoshi Omika), the woodcutter, water-gatherer and all-round odd-job-man of Mizubiki village, the setting of “Drive My Car” director Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s meditative and moving, yet ultimately unsettling new feature. Takumi’s few words all relate to such matters: the flow of a stream, the thorns on a Siberian Ginseng, the tang of wild wasabi.

When Venice head Alberto Barbera announced his competition lineup in July, he confessed that he and his selection team were surprised to see one submission in their database: a feature project by Japanese filmmaker Ryûsuke Hamaguchi. 

Shinrin-yoku, which translates as “forest-bathing,” was a Japanese invention of the 1980s: a meditative therapy that connects burnt-out urbanites with the healing power of nature. Evil Does Not Exist, the latest film from the celebrated director of Drive My Car, Ryusuke Hamaguchi – and a contender for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival — opens with a long series of scenes of trees that are so serenely paced and beautifully scored that they leave you feeling as if you have been forest-bathing for real. 

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The international trailer for “A Whole Life,” which will have its world premiere in the Gala section of the Zürich Film Festival (Sept. 28 to Oct. 8), has debuted with Variety (below).

Mark Schilling Japan Correspondent In 2021, Hamaguchi Ryusuke won truckloads of awards and nearly universal critical acclaim for his three-hour drama “Drive My Car,” including three prizes at Cannes and a best picture Academy Award nomination, the first ever for a Japanese film. (That Oscar went elsewhere, but “Drive My Car” was named best international feature film.) Instead of trying to top this triumph with a bigger budget and more internationally known names in the cast, Hamaguchi has returned to his indie roots with “Evil Does Not Exist,” which premieres in competition at this year’s Venice Film Festival.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor “Stella. A Life.,” which stars Berlinale best actress award-winner Paula Beer, has been sold to France, Scandinavia and Australia. The film will have a market screening at Toronto Film Festival, and will have its world premiere with a Gala Screening at the Zurich Film Festival.

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Before Bond and “Casino Royale,” before many of his now iconic performances and appearances in franchises like “Rogue One,” ‘Fantastic Beasts,’ “Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny,” Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen first came to fame with Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Pusher” trilogy. But one of the acclaimed films that kept pushing up the mountain of international fame was Danish filmmaker Nikolaj Arcel’s “A Royal Affair” (2012).

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Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Fien Troch’s “Holly,” which world premieres in competition at the Venice Film Festival, has debuted its trailer. MK2 is handling world sales. Troch’s previous film, “Home,” won the Horizons best director award at Venice.

New works by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Kitty Green, and Christos Nikou are among the titles that have been set to play in competition at the upcoming 67th edition of the British Film Institute’s (BFI) London Film Festival. Scroll down for the full list.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Triple Oscar nominee Agnieszka Holland’s “Green Border,” which will premiere in competition at the Venice Film Festival, before going onto Toronto Film Festival and New York Film Festival, has sold to multiple territories. Variety has been granted access to an exclusive clip from the film, and Holland’s notes on the production, which we quote from below, again exclusively.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor First Hand Films has taken international sales rights to German director Julia Fuhr Mann’s documentary “Life Is Not a Competition But I Am Winning?,” which will premiere in Critics’ Week at the Venice Film Festival. Variety is debuting its trailer exclusively.

Well, this is awkward…

EXCLUSIVE: Academy Award winner Jamie Foxx has been tapped for the role of God in the forthcoming comedy, Deadline has learned. In the film from writer-director Johnny Mack, he appears opposite The Wrestler‘s Mickey Rourke, who inhabits the role of the Devil, as previously announced.