IFMCA Award winners for 2013 announced

INTERNATIONAL FILM MUSIC CRITICS ASSOCIATION ANNOUNCES WINNERS; COMPOSERS FROM POLAND, SPAIN, DOMINATE

FEBRUARY 20, 2014 — The International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) announces its list of winners for excellence in musical scoring in 2013. This year’s awards have a real international flavor, with the top awards going to composers primarily from Poland and Spain, but also from France, Japan and Argentina.

The award for Score of the Year goes to Polish composer ABEL KORZENIOWSKI for his beautiful score for director Carlo Carlei’s new cinematic version of the classic Shakespeare story of tragically doomed love, ROMEO AND JULIET. IFMCA member Christian Clemmensen called the score an “epic romance”, and felt that the film “inspired greatness out of the right composer”, while IFMCA member Jon Broxton said that Korzeniowski “is a composer who is not afraid to bring out the deeper sentiments in a film through his music, and it’s so refreshing to hear music from a man who so clearly understands what good film music can achieve”.

Korzeniowski was also named Composer of the Year, having not only scored Romeo and Juliet, but also the surreal fantasy ESCAPE FROM TOMORROW, which underscored the story of a man gradually losing his grip on reality while visiting a theme park with a soaring satire of traditional Disneyland music. The score for Romeo and Juliet was also named Best Score for a Drama Film. These are the second, third and fourth IFMCA awards for Korzeniowski, who previously won the Drama Score award for A SINGLE MAN IN 2009.

The IFMCA’s ongoing recognition of emerging talent in the film music world this year spotlights Bordeaux, France native LAURENT EYQUEM, who was named Breakthrough Composer of the Year. Having made his film music debut just five years ago in 2008, Eyquem impressed the IFMCA greatly with two spectacular scores in 2013: director Ronald Maxwell’s epic civil war drama COPPERHEAD, and a biopic of the great South African civil rights leader WINNIE MANDELA, starring Jennifer Hudson and Terrence Howard. Eyquem’s emotional orchestral music for these projects really struck a chord with the IFMCA membership.

Spanish composer ROQUE BAÑOS wrote the IFMCA’s Film Music Composition of the Year, and won the Best Fantasy/Sci-Fi/Horror score award for his astonishingly brutal, violent, brilliant orchestral music for the remake of the horror classic EVIL DEAD. Employing huge orchestral and choral forces, as well as the eerie tones of an air raid siren, Baños’s score is a wonderful example of the best in contemporary horror movie scoring, and the composition of the year – “Abominations Rising” – is a tour-de-force of power, intensity, and musical excellence. This is the first IFMCA Award win for Baños, who was previously nominated for his score TORRENTE 4: LETHAL CRISIS in 2011.

The various other genre awards were won by THEODORE SHAPIRO for director Ben Stiller’s globetrotting comedy-drama THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY; Spanish composer VÍCTOR REYES for the ingenious classical music thriller GRAND PIANO; Japanese composer JOE HISAISHI for his warm score for director Hayao Miyazaki’s anime film THE WIND RISES; and CONRAD POPE for his exquisite music for the artistic documentary TIM’S VERMEER.

In the non-film categories, Argentine composer FEDERICO JUSID won the award for Best Original Score for a Television Series for his outstanding work on the most recent season of the Spanish historical TV drama ISABEL, while French composer OLIVIER DERIVIÈRE won the award for Best Original Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media for his creative, unconventional score for the reality-altering REMEMBER ME.

La-La Land Records won the Best Archival Release of an Existing Score – Compilation award for their superb work on Michael Kamen, Eric Clapton and David Sanborn’s classic action scores in the LETHAL WEAPON series, released in a lavish 4-CD set by producers Neil S. Bulk and MV Gerhard. They also continued their monopoly of the Film Music Record Label of the Year category, winning for the fourth straight year, and solidifying their position at the top of the list of labels specializing in lovingly restoring the greatest film music of the past.

Finally, conductor Nic Raine and producers James Fitzpatrick and Luc Van de Ven won the Best Archival Release of an Existing Score – Re-Release or Re-Recording award for their outstanding re-recording of one of Jerry Goldsmith’s once-lost 1980s action scores, THE SALAMANDER. The IFMCA also chose to present a special award to Welsh composer and orchestrator LEIGH PHILLIPS, who worked with the label on The Salamander. With the original recordings lost and virtually no sheet music to work with, Phillips faithfully re-created the score by ear, watching the film over and over again in order to fully understand Goldsmith’s music. As a result of his diligence, technique and dedication – as well as the subsequent performance by the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra - this long-desired work has finally been made available to collectors.

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THE WINNERS

FILM SCORE OF THE YEAR
• Romeo and Juliet, music by Abel Korzeniowski

FILM COMPOSER OF THE YEAR
• Abel Korzeniowski

BREAKTHROUGH FILM COMPOSER OF THE YEAR
• Laurent Eyquem

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A DRAMA FILM
• Romeo and Juliet, music by Abel Korzeniowski

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A COMEDY FILM
• The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, music by Theodore Shapiro

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR AN ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLER FILM
• Grand Piano, music by Víctor Reyes

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A FANTASY/SCIENCE FICTION/HORROR FILM
• Evil Dead, music by Roque Baños

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR AN ANIMATED FEATURE
• The Wind Rises, music by Joe Hisaishi

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
• Tim's Vermeer, music by Conrad Pope

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A TELEVISION SERIES
• Isabel, music by Federico Jusid

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A VIDEO GAME OR INTERACTIVE MEDIA
• Remember Me, music by Olivier Deriviére

BEST ARCHIVAL RELEASE OF AN EXISTING SCORE - RE-RELEASE OR RE-RECORDING
• The Salamander, music by Jerry Goldsmith; re-recording conducted by Nic Raine; album produced by James Fitzpatrick; liner notes by Frank K. De Wald; album art direction by Paul de Blieck, Johan van den Broeck and GINKO DIGI (Prometheus/Tadlow)

BEST ARCHIVAL RELEASE OF AN EXISTING SCORE – COMPILATION
• Lethal Weapon Soundtrack Collection, music by Michael Kamen, Eric Clapton and David Sanborn; album produced by Neil S. Bulk and MV Gerhard; liner notes by Jeff Bond; album art direction by Jim Titus (La-La Land)

FILM MUSIC RECORD LABEL OF THE YEAR
• La-La Land Records, MV Gerhard and Matt Verboys

FILM MUSIC COMPOSITION OF THE YEAR
• “Abominations Rising” from Evil Dead, music by Roque Baños

SPECIAL AWARD
• The Salamander, score reconstruction by Leigh Phillips

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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, television and game music.

Since its inception, the IFMCA has grown to comprise over 60 members from countries as diverse as Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.

Previous IFMCA Score of the Year Awards have been awarded to Mychael Danna’s LIFE OF PI in 2012, John Williams’ WAR HORSE in 2011, John Powell’s HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON in 2010, Michael Giacchino’s UP in 2009, Alexandre Desplat’s THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON in 2008, Dario Marianelli’s ATONEMENT in 2007, James Newton Howard’s LADY IN THE WATER in 2006, John Williams’ MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA in 2005 and Michael Giacchino’s THE INCREDIBLES in 2004.

For more information about the International Film Music Critics Association visit filmmusiccritics.org or facebook.com/ifmca, follow us at twitter.com/IFMCA, or contact us at press@filmmusiccritics.org.