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Academy Award Winners 2012

February 24, 2013 Leave a comment

danna-oscarThe Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) have announced the winners of the 85th Academy Awards, honoring the best in film in 2012.

In the Best Original Score category composer Mychael Danna won the award for his score for Life of Pi. In his acceptance speech, Danna said:

I share this wondrous award with our visionary captain, Mr. Ang Lee – there he is! We’re playing this game again! – who guided a truly global cast and crew in the telling of this wondrous, beautiful story that transcends culture and race and religion. In the same spirit, musicians from around the globe came together to breathe life into this music, and I hold this award on their behalf. I want to thank my beautiful Fox family, my mom who’s in a balcony here watching, my father who’s also watching, and most of all my wife Apurna and our two beautiful boys who remind me every day why stories like this need to be told. Thank you everyone. Thank you, Academy. Thank you.”

The other nominees were Alexandre Desplat for Argo, Dario Marianelli for Anna Karenina, Thomas Newman for Skyfall, and John Williams for Lincoln.

In the Best Original Song category, the winners were Adele Atkins and Paul Epworth for “Skyfall”, the title song from the James Bond film of the same name.

The other nominees were Mychael Danna and Bombay Jayashri for “Pi’s Lullaby” from Life of Pi; Walter Murphy and Seth MacFarlane for “Everybody Needs A Best Friend” from Ted; Joshua Ralph for “Before My Time” from Chasing Ice; and Claude-Michel Schönberg, Alain Boublil and Herbert Kretzmer for “Suddenly” from Les Misérables.

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SYBERIADA POLSKA – Krzesimir Dębski

February 22, 2013 Leave a comment

syberiadapolskaOriginal Review by Jonathan Broxton

Syberiada Polska is an epic wartime historical drama, directed by Janusz Zaorski, based on the novel by Zbigniew Domino. It tells the story of a family of Polish Jews who are deported to Russia during World War II. It follows the fortunes of one family, specifically the family’s youngest son Staszek, who are sent to Siberia and must struggle for survival against the harsh Siberian winter, and the cruel camp commandant who decides their fate. The film stars Adam Woronowicz, Sonia Bohosiewicz, and Pawel Krucz as Staszek, and is scored by composer Krzesimir Dębski using the Orkiestra Sinfonietta Cracovia. Read more…

THE BUTTERFLY’S DREAM – Rahman Altin

February 22, 2013 Leave a comment

butterflysdreamOriginal Review by Jonathan Broxton

There aren’t many Turkish films which attain any sort of international prominence, but director Yılmaz Erdoğan’s film Kelebeğin Rüyası – The Butterfly’s Dream – is one of the rarities. It was Turkey’s official submission to the 86th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film; according to its official press, the film is set in Turkey in the early 1940s, and revolves around two good friends, Rüştü Onur (Mert Firat) and Muzaffer Tayyip Uslu (Kıvanç Tatlıtuğ), who make a living out of publishing poetry. However, with World War II in full swing across the world, and with the social class system and religious barriers of the time giving rise to numerous problems, their story takes a turn when both fall in love. Read more…

IFMCA Award Winners 2012

February 21, 2013 Leave a comment

dannaifmcaINTERNATIONAL FILM MUSIC CRITICS ASSOCIATION HONORS MULTIPLE FILMS; “LIFE OF PI” TAKES SCORE OF THE YEAR BUT DESPLAT, ELFMAN, GIACCHINO, NEWMAN, VELÁZQUEZ, WILLIAMS ALSO WIN

The International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) announces its list of winners for excellence in musical scoring in 2012. Unlike in previous years, where one score has taken multiple victories, the main film prizes are split equally between 11 different movies and composers, the greatest spread in IFMCA history.

The award for Score of the Year goes to Canadian composer MYCHAEL DANNA for his score for director Ang Lee’s vivid shipwreck drama LIFE OF PI. Danna’s dramatic and beautiful score made use of a large number of Indian musical elements in addition to a traditional western orchestra, capturing through music one the film’s key ideas, the collision of different cultures to form the large, ethnic melting pot from which the lead character, Pi Patel, originates. This is the first Score of the Year award from the IFMCA for Golden Globe winner and double-Oscar nominee Danna, who had never previously been nominated in this category, although he did receive five previous nominations in genre categories for scores such as BEING JULIA, THE NATIVITY STORY and THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS.

Hollywood A-lister DANNY ELFMAN was named Film Composer of the Year for his outstanding body of work in 2012, during which he composed music for such popular and successful films as DARK SHADOWS, FRANKENWEENIE, HITCHCOCK. MEN IN BLACK III, PROMISED LAND and SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK. Elfman’s music in 2012 ran the gamut of styles and genres, from the soft rock of Silver Linings Playbook to the Gothic atmospherics of Dark Shadows and Frankenweenie, to the subtle Bernard Herrmann echoes of Hitchcock, cementing his position as one of the most versatile and sought-after composers working today. This is the second Composer of the Year Award Elfman has received from the IFMCA, having previously been similarly honored for his work in 2008. Read more…

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BAFTA Winners 2012

February 10, 2013 Leave a comment

newman-baftaThe British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) have announced the winners of the 66th British Academy Film Awards, honoring the best in film in 2012.

In the Best Original Score category composer Thomas Newman won the award for his score for the smash hit James Bond movie Skyfall. In his acceptance speech, Newman said:

“Thank you so much BAFTA. A big shout-out to Monty Norman and the late John Barry for that iconic theme which always makes everyone get up and smile. Thank you to Michael and Greg Wilson, Barbara Broccoli, to my wife Anne-Marie, everyone at Abbey Road and Sam Mendes – brinksmanship! Thank you so much.”

The other nominees were Mychael Danna for Life of Pi, Alexandre Desplat for Argo, Dario Marianelli for Anna Karenina, and John Williams for Lincoln.

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IFMCA Award Nominations 2012

February 7, 2013 1 comment

ifmcasquareINTERNATIONAL FILM MUSIC CRITICS AWARD NOMINATIONS REVEAL MOST OPEN RACE IN YEARS, WITH MULTIPLE NOMINATIONS FOR DANNA, DESPLAT, VELÁZQUEZ, WILLIAMS

The International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) announces its list of nominees for excellence in musical scoring in 2012. The largest numbers this year are, for the most part, split evenly between four composers, all of whom received four nominations: MYCHAEL DANNA, ALEXANDRE DESPLAT, FERNANDO VELÁZQUEZ and veteran composer JOHN WILLIAMS.

The nominations for Danna, Velázquez and Williams were each for a single score – director Ang Lee’s vivid shipwreck drama LIFE OF PI, director Juan Antonio Bayona’s harrowing tsunami drama THE IMPOSSIBLE [LO IMPOSIBLE] and director Steven Spielberg’s look at the last months of life of Abraham LINCOLN, respectively.

Desplat’s nominations were for his body of work in 2012 which included writing IFMCA Award-nominated music for the quirky comedy MOONRISE KINGDOM, the storybook animation RISE OF THE GUARDIANS, and the contemporary war thriller ZERO DARK THIRTY, as well as for the 1970s espionage thriller ARGO, the realistic French romantic drama RUST AND BONE [DE ROUILLE ET D’OS], the Italian satirical comedy REALITY, and the French-language biopic CLOCLO.

The other nominees for Film Score of the Year are the ambitious sci-fi drama CLOUD ATLAS by Tom Tykwer, Johnny Klimek and Reinhold Heil (2 nominations), and director Peter Jackson’s epic fantasy prequel THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY by Howard Shore (2 nominations). Read more…

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VERGISS MEIN NICHT – Jessica de Rooij

February 1, 2013 Leave a comment

vergissmeinnichtOriginal Review by Jonathan Broxton

Vergiss Mein Nicht is a feature-length German-language documentary about Alzheimer’s disease. Specifically, the film looks at the life of Gretel Sieveking, the mother of director David Sieveking, whose diagnosis inspires David to look at both his parents’ marriage – they had been a part of the student movement in the 1960s and led an open relationship – and the German health care system as a whole, which cares for 2 million other Alzheimer’s patients each year. The score is by Jessica de Rooij, best known amongst film music fans for being the composer du jour of controversial director Uwe Böll, but who has been given the chance to turn her hand to something more substantial and meaningful here. Read more…