Director Ryusuke Hamaguchi, who directed the film "Evil Does Not Exist," which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice International Film Festival in Italy, one of the world's three major film festivals, and Hitoshi Omiga who starred in the film held a press conference in Tokyo on the 3th to express their joy at receiving the award.
"Evil Does Not Exist" tells the story of a plan to build camp accommodation near the village rich in nature where the protagonist lives, and it becomes clear that this will affect the water resources and ecosystem of the village.
At the Venice International Film Festival in Italy, which was held from last month to this month, it won the "Grand Jury Prize", which is the second highest award, the Silver Lion Award, after the Golden Lion Award.
On the 12th, a press conference was held at the Japan Foreign Correspondents' Club in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, with director Ryusuke Hamaguchi and lead actor Hitoshi Omiga in attendance.
Director Hamaguchi expressed his joy, saying, "I received a wonderful award, and my project that I started steadily from nothing was recognized, and I feel as if I was encouraged to continue to work steadily in the future."
Omiga also said, "I had almost no experience acting in films, but I would like to thank everyone who participated in the film for making it possible because it was the environment created by everyone who participated in the film.
With this award, Hamaguchi has won awards in all three major film festivals in competition.
In addition to this, he also won an Academy Award in the United States, and this is the first time since Akira Kurosawa directed Japan.
Regarding this, Hamaguchi said, "Compared to the 3s, our production scale is small, and we cannot make films that are as overwhelmingly convincing as Kurosawa's. I want to make a film that people say has won that bet."
"Evil Doesn't Exist" is scheduled to be released in Japan during next year's long holiday period.