ABOUT THE GROUP

The International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) is an association of online, print and radio journalists who specialize in writing and broadcasting about original film and television music.

The IFMCA was originally formed in the late 1990s as the now-defunct “Film Music Critics Jury” by editor and journalist Mikael Carlsson, a member of the editorial staff at Music from the Movies for over ten years and a regular contributor to filmmusicradio.com and filmmusicmag.com. Mikael is now the owner of the Swedish independent film music label MovieScore Media, and remains a member of the IFMCA as its Honorary President, recognizing his leadership in creating the organization.

After a brief period of inactivity from 2000-2003 the group returned in 2004 re-branded as the IFMCA. Since its inception, the IFMCA has grown to comprise over 65 members from countries as diverse as Australia, Belgium, Canada, Chile, China, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.

The core aims of the group are twofold:

  • Firstly, to promote, celebrate, and comment on the art of film music and the composers who create it through published critical reviews, books and articles, opinion pieces, interviews, radio broadcasts, podcasts, videos, public appearances, and via the annual IFMCA Awards.
  • Secondly, to support its members in the achievement of the first aim, with a number of community-based resources and tools, through online publicity promoting their work, though the sharing of information and expertise, and through the opportunity for collaboration with other members.

ABOUT THE IFMCA AWARDS

The annual IFMCA Awards, which were first presented in 2004, are the only awards given to composers by film music journalists. The IFMCA strongly feels that a film score’s strength lies in the combined impact of two important elements: the effectiveness, appropriateness and emotional impact of the score in the context of the film for which it was written; and the technical and intellectual merit of the composition when heard as a standalone listening experience. As such, the membership votes for the best scores of each year with these two criteria in mind, and strives to recognize scores which excel in both these areas. As an international organization, the IFMCA also makes conscious efforts to celebrate the best film music, not just from mainstream Hollywood productions, but world-wide, wherever it may originate.