CONTENTS MICA LEVI How do you write a score for a film whose theme is the horror of Auschwitz? For Levi, the composer for The Zone of Interest, who is behind some of the most formally inventive scores of recent years, the answer was profoundly challenging. Interview by Sophia Satchell-Baeza 42 I NT H I S I S S U E 30 HAMAGUCHI RYŪSUKE Evil Does Not Exist, a portrait of a rural Japanese community battling developers, emerged from an unusual artistic collaboration. Following an essay by Adrian Martin, Elena Lazic talks to Hamaguchi and the film’s composer, Ishibashi Eiko, about the art of the duet and the origins of the story 48 DAVID BORDWELL One of the greatest contemporary critics, Bordwell – who has died aged 76 – was a tireless champion of film art whose eloquent work on film style and narrative has transformed our understanding of the history of cinema. By James Naremore : J E N S K O C H C O V E R P H O T O G R A P H 26 BERLIN FILM FESTIVAL Of all the top European festivals, Berlin has been the most open to explicitly political filmmaking: no surprise, then, that this edition saw controversy about Gaza – as well as some invigorating, original films, such as No Other Land (pictured right). By Thomas Flew 52 VÍCTOR ERICE Close Your Eyes, the director’s first featurelength film for 30 years, is a poetic meditation on time, memory and loss that revolves around the disappearance of an actor. He talks to Geoff Andrew about its genesis, the personal nature of his filmmaking and his refusal to compromise