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BAFTA Nominations 2001

January 28, 2002 Leave a comment

baftaThe British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has announced the nominations for the 55th British Academy Film Awards, honoring the best in film in 2001.

In the Best Original Music category, which is named in memory of the film director Anthony Asquith, the nominees are:

  • CRAIG ARMSTRONG and MARIUS DE VRIES for Moulin Rouge!
  • ANGELO BADALAMENTI for Mulholland Drive
  • HARRY GREGSON-WILLIAMS and JOHN POWELL for Shrek
  • HOWARD SHORE for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
  • YANN TIERSEN for Amélie

These are the first nominations for Badalamenti, Gregson-Williams, Powell, and Tiersen. It is the second nomination for Armstrong, the second nomination for De Vries, and the second nomination for Shore. Armstrong and De Vreis previously won for William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet in 1997.

The winners of the 55th BAFTA Awards will be announced on February 24, 2002.

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Mario Nascimbene, 1913-2002

January 6, 2002 Leave a comment

Composer Mario Nascimbene died on January 6, 2002, at his home in Rome, Italy, after a short illness. He was 88.

Born in Milan in 1913, Nascimbene studied composition and orchestration at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory. His early work in Italian cinema during the 1940s quickly brought him attention for its originality and subtle emotional shading. He became one of the first Italian composers to find international success in Hollywood, scoring major American productions during the 1950s and 1960s.

Nascimbene’s distinctive style, which often incorporated unconventional instruments and electronic effects alongside traditional orchestration, set him apart. He was an early adopter of tape loops and ambient sound in film scoring, helping to modernize the language of cinematic music. He collaborated with legendary directors including Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Roberto Rossellini, and Michelangelo Antonioni, and scored over 150 films across genres, from historical epics to psychological dramas.

His score for Alexander the Great (1956), starring Richard Burton, and his evocative work on titles such as The Barefoot Contessa (1954), A Farewell to Arms (1957), The Vikings (1958), Room at the Top (1959), Solomon and Sheba (1959), Barabbas (1961), Light in the Piazza (1962), Swordsman of Siena (1962) earned him a place among the leading Italian film composers of his generation. Later in his career Nascimbene worked on several films for the Hammer studio in the UK, notably titles such as One Million Years B.C. (1966), The Vengeance of She (1968), The Mummy (1969), When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970), and Creatures the World Forgot (1971). Read more…

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