Film at Lincoln Center announces GIFT: A Film by Ryûsuke Hamaguchi X Live Score by Eiko Ishibashi, taking place May 1 and 2 at the Walter Reade Theater with the composer performing live the score to Hamaguchi’s newest feature. These special performances are in anticipation of the release of Hamaguchi’s NYFF61 selection Evil Does Not Exist, opening on May 3 at FLC.

Multi-instrumentalist composer Eiko Ishibashi, who scored Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car (NYFF59), will perform live with the North American premiere of Hamaguchi’s silent film. This brand-new feature from the acclaimed Japanese director, developed in collaboration with Ishibashi, is something like the concentrated, wordless flipside of Evil Does Not Exist, which was awarded the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival, Best Film at the BFI London Film Festival, and is nominated for six Asian Film Awards, including Best Film. The sui generis ecopolitical thriller is set within a serene rural village that’s about to be disrupted by the construction of a glamping site for Tokyo tourists. How this scenario unfolds in GIFT is an altogether different experience: a silent feature that will only be presented with the live accompaniment of Ishibashi’s score, performed by the composer herself. 

Drive My Car and Evil Does Not Exist are Sideshow and Janus Films releases.

Organized by Florence Almozini and Manuel Santini.

Eiko Ishibashi is a Japanese multi-instrumentalist whose work has ranged from acclaimed singer-songwriter albums to scores for film, television, theater, and exhibitions to improvised music. She has collaborated with international artists such as Jim O’Rourke, Keiji Haino, Charlemagne Palestine, Merzbow, Giovanni Di Domenico, Oren Ambarchi, and many others. Her own records have been released by Drag City, Black Truffle, and Editions Mego, amongst others.

On May 4, Ishibashi will perform her score for Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s Oscar-winning NYFF59 selection Drive My Car at Le Poisson Rouge in New York for a one-night-only event. Her score won the Discovery of the Year award at The World Soundtrack Awards and the Best Original Music award at the Asian Film Awards.

Additional information about Eiko Ishibashi can be found at eikoishibashi.net.

Tickets for GIFT: A Film by Ryûsuke Hamaguchi X Live Score by Eiko Ishibashi will go on sale for $35 on Thursday, February 8 at 2pm, with an early access period for FLC Members for $30 starting at 12pm.

FILMS & DESCRIPTIONS
All film screenings take place at the Walter Reade Theater (WRT), 165 W. 65th St.

May 1–2
GIFT: A Film by Ryûsuke Hamaguchi X Live Score by Eiko Ishibashi
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, 2023, Japan, 74m
Silent with English subtitles
North American Premiere

Film at Lincoln Center welcomes multi-instrumentalist composer Eiko Ishibashi, who scored director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car (NYFF59), for the North American premiere of her live performance of GIFT. This brand-new feature from Hamaguchi, developed in collaboration with Ishibashi, is something like the concentrated, wordless flipside of Evil Does Not Exist (NYFF61, opening at FLC on May 3), a sui generis ecopolitical thriller set within a serene rural village that’s about to be disrupted by the construction of a glamping site for Tokyo tourists. How this scenario unfolds in GIFT is an altogether different experience: a silent feature that will only be presented with the live accompaniment of Ishibashi’s score, performed by the composer herself. Join us this May for what promises to be an unmissable event, presented for two nights only in the Walter Reade Theater.
Wednesday, May 1 at 7:00pm
Thursday, May 2 at 7:00pm

Opens May 3
Evil Does Not Exist
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, 2023, Japan, 105m
Japanese with English subtitles

Deep in the forest of the small rural village Harasawa, single parent Takumi lives with his young daughter, Hana, and takes care of odd jobs for locals, chopping wood and hauling pristine well water. The overpowering serenity of this untouched land of mountains and lakes, where deer peacefully roam free, is about to be disrupted by the imminent arrival of the Tokyo company Playmode, which is ready to start construction on a glamping site for city tourists—a plan, which Takumi and his neighbors discover, that will have dire consequences for the ecological health and cleanliness of their community. The potent and foreboding new film from Oscar-winning director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car and Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, both NYFF59) is a haunting, entirely unexpected cinematic experience that reconstitutes the boundaries of the ecopolitical thriller. Intensified by a rapturous, ominous score by Eiko Ishibashi, this mesmeric journey diverges from country-vs-city themes to straddle the line between the earthy and the metaphysical. A Sideshow/Janus Films release. An NYFF61 Main Slate selection.