IFMCA announces its 2008 winners for scoring excellence

ALEXANDRE DESPLAT’S THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON WINS BEST SCORE OF 2008

Alexandre Desplat wins the 2008 IFMCA’S Film Score of the Year Award for THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON, David Fincher’s imaginative re-telling of a 1921 F. Scott Fitzgerald short story about a man who ages backwards from an old man to a baby. These are the fourth and fifth awards for Desplat from the IFMCA, having been named Composer of the Year in 2006 and 2007. The score also wins Best Original Score for a Dramatic Film.

Danny Elfman is named Film Composer of the Year for his excellence in scoring four high-profile movies this year: MILK, WANTED, HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY and STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE. The latter score also wins Elfman an individual scoring award for Best Original Score for a Documentary Feature.

Canadian composer Andrew Lockington wins Breakout Composer of the Year for his two high-profile scores in 2008: JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH and CITY OF EMBER. Lockington is a former orchestrator for fellow Canadian composer Mychael Danna, and worked with his countryman on scores such as 8MM, GIRL INTERRUPTED and HEARTS IN ATLANTIS before embarking on his solo composing career.

Thomas Newman’s score for Pixar’s WALL*E wins Best Original Score for an Animated Feature. John Williams’ score for Steven Spielberg’s INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL wins Best Original Score for an Action/Adventure Film, and James Newton Howard wins for his score to THE HAPPENING in the Best Original Score for a Horror/Thriller Film category. Javier Navarrete’s score to INKHEART, which opened in parts of Europe in 2008, receives the award for Best Original Score for a Fantasy/Science Fiction Film. The Coen Brothers’ BURN AFTER READING wins Best Original Score for a Comedy Film for their longtime collaborator Carter Burwell, and Michael Giacchino wins Film Music Composition of the Year for his “Roar Overture” from CLOVERFIELD that played during the end credits of the monster ‘reality’ movie which otherwise did not include any other underscore.

Non-film winners include Robert Lane and Joseph Vitarelli, who win Best Original Score for Television to for their score for the HBO mini-series, JOHN ADAMS; Norwegian composer Knut Avenstroup Haugen, who wins Best Original Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media for the Funcom PC role-playing game AGE OF CONAN: HYBORIAN ADVENTURES; and the Intrada label, which wins Film Music Record Label of the Year for the third year in a row for their continuing excellence in releasing older, catalog scores, some for the first time, including their world premiere release of the complete score to Jerry Goldsmith’s 1978 THE BOY FROM BRAZIL, which wins this year’s prize for Best New Release/Re-Release of an Existing Score.

2008 FILM WINNERS:

FILM SCORE OF THE YEAR
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, music by Alexandre Desplat

FILM COMPOSER OF THE YEAR
• Danny Elfman

BREAKOUT COMPOSER OF THE YEAR
• Andrew Lockington

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A DRAMA FILM
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, music by Alexandre Desplat

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A COMEDY FILM
• Burn After Reading, music by Carter Burwell

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR AN ACTION/ADVENTURE FILM
• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, music by John Williams

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A FANTASY/SCIENCE FICTION FILM
• Inkheart, music by Javier Navarrete

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A HORROR/THRILLER FILM
• The Happening, music by James Newton Howard

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR AN ANIMATED FEATURE
• Wall*E, music by Thomas Newman

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
• Standard Operating Procedure, music by Danny Elfman

FILM MUSIC COMPOSITION OF THE YEAR
• Cloverfield: “Roar Overture,” music by Michael Giacchino

OTHER CATEGORIES:

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR TELEVISION
• John Adams, music by Robert Lane and Joseph Vitarelli

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A VIDEO GAME OR INTERACTIVE MEDIA
• Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, music by Knut Avenstroup Haugen

BEST NEW RELEASE/RE-RELEASE OF AN EXISTING SCORE
• The Boys from Brazil, music by Jerry Goldsmith; produced by Douglass Fake (Intrada)

BEST RE-RECORDING OF AN EXISTING SCORE
• El Cid, music by Miklós Rózsa; conducted by Nic Raine, produced by James Fitzpatrick (Tadlow)

BEST COMPILATION ALBUM OR BOX SET
• Indiana Jones: The Soundtracks Collection, music by John Williams; produced by Laurent Bouzereau (Concord)

FILM MUSIC RECORD LABEL OF THE YEAR
• Intrada

IFMCA announces its 2008 nominees for scoring excellence

WALL*E, the Pixar movie about a lone robot left on Earth, garnered the most nominations for the fifth annual International Film Music Critics Association Awards for Excellence. The animated film was nominated for four awards: Film Score of the Year, Best Score for an Animated Film, Best Film Composition (for “Define Dancing”) and Composer of the Year for Thomas Newman (who also scored REVOLUTIONARY ROAD and TOWELHEAD in 2008).

Also nominated for Film Score of the Year are the acclaimed THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON by Alexandre Desplat; the highest grossing movie of the year, THE DARK KNIGHT by James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer; the Abu Ghraib prison documentary STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE by Danny Elfman and the first score by veteran film composer John Williams in three years, INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL.

Danny Elfman received the most individual nominations this year with seven: Composer of the Year; Film Score of the Year and Best Documentary Score for STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE; Best Drama Score for MILK; Best Action/Adventure Score and Best Individual Cue for WANTED (“Success Montage”); and Best Fantasy/Science Fiction Score for HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY.

In the category of Breakout Composer, the Association took notice of scores by up-and-coming composers Paul Cantelon (THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL and W.), Andrew Lockington (JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH and CITY OF EMBER), Nico Muhly (THE READER), Max Richter (WALTZ WITH BASHIR) and Atli Örvarsson (BABYLON A.D. and VANTAGE POINT).

The nominations by the IMFCA, which has members from around the world, reflect the Association’s global perspective. International score nominees include the latest Hayao Miyazaki animated film GAKE NO UE NO PONYO (PONYO ON THE CLIFF) by Joe Hisaishi, the comedy BIENVENUE CHEZ LES CH’TIS by Philippe Rombi, and the made-for-television movie PANE E LIBERTÀ by Ennio Morricone.

The International Film Music Critics will announce the winners of their 5th Annual Awards on February 18, 2009.

The nominees are:

FILM SCORE OF THE YEAR

FILM COMPOSER OF THE YEAR

BREAKOUT COMPOSER OF THE YEAR

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A DRAMA FILM

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A COMEDY FILM

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR AN ACTION/ADVENTURE FILM

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A FANTASY/SCIENCE FICTION FILM

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A HORROR/THRILLER FILM

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR AN ANIMATED FEATURE

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

FILM MUSIC COMPOSITION OF THE YEAR

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR TELEVISION

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A VIDEO GAME OR INTERACTIVE MEDIA

BEST NEW RELEASE/RE-RELEASE OF AN EXISTING SCORE

BEST RE-RECORDING OF AN EXISTING SCORE

BEST COMPILATION ALBUM OR BOX SET

FILM MUSIC RECORD LABEL OF THE YEAR

Nomination period for 2008 IFMCA Awards begins

The official nomination period for the 2008 IFMCA Awards has begun today. The list of nominees will be announced on Friday, January 16th 2009.

Dario Marianelli receives 2007 IFMCA Award for Best Score

IFMCA member Jon Broxton presented Dario Marianelli with three award certificates, representing the awards he won at the 2007 IFMCA Awards; Film Score of the Year (Atonement), Best Original Score - Drama (Atonement) and the award for Film Score Composition of the Year (”Elegy for Dunkirk” from Atonement).

Jon Broxton and Dario Marianelli

Special thanks goes to Maggie Rodford for helping set up the meeting.

2007 IFMCA Award Winners announced

The members of the International Film Music Critics Association have announced the winners of the 4th Annual IFMCA Awards, honoring achievements in film and television music in 2007. They are:

• FILM SCORE OF THE YEAR - Atonement, music by Dario Marianelli
• FILM COMPOSER OF THE YEAR - Alexandre Desplat
• BEST NEW COMPOSER OF 2007 - Ilan Eshkeri for Stardust
• BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A DRAMA FILM - Atonement, music by Dario Marianelli
• BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A COMEDY FILM - Enchanted, music by Alan Menken
• BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR AN ACTION/ADVENTURE FILM - The Bourne Ultimatum, music by John Powell
• BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A FANTASY/SCIENCE FICTION FILM - The Golden Compass, music by Alexandre Desplat
• BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A HORROR/THRILLER FILM - Zodiac, music by David Shire
• BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR AN ANIMATED FILM - Ratatouille, music by Michael Giacchino
• BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A DOCUMENTARY FILM - Earth, music by George Fenton
• BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR TELEVISION - The Story of the Great King and the Four Gods, music by Joe Hisaishi
• BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A VIDEO GAME OR INTERACTIVE MEDIA - LAIR, music by John Debney
• BEST NEW RELEASE/RE-RELEASE/RE-RECORDING OF AN EXISTING SCORE - Alien, music by Jerry Goldsmith; produced by Douglass Fake, Michael Matessino and Nick Redman (Intrada Records)
• BEST COMPILATION ALBUM - Amazing Stories: Anthology 3, various composers; produced by Douglass Fake (Intrada Records)
• FILM MUSIC COMPOSITION OF THE YEAR - “Elegy for Dunkirk” from Atonement, music by Dario Marianelli
• FILM MUSIC RECORD LABEL OF THE YEAR - Intrada Records
• SPECIAL AWARD - to Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman for the outstanding work on the 2007 screen musical Hairspray, based on their own Tony Award-winning stage show