PR: Ryuichi Sakamoto to receive WSA Lifetime Achievement Award

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Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto receives World Soundtrack Lifetime Achievement
Award and Film Fest Gent launches crowdfunding campaign for a unique compilation
album focusing on Sakamoto’s film scores.
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The Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to Ryuichi Sakamoto at the 16th
World Soundtrack Awards in Gent, following the festival’s spotlight on Japanese
cinema. A selection of his work will be performed by Brussels Philharmonic conducted
by Dirk Brossé.
Artistic director of Film Fest Gent Patrick Duynslaegher on choosing the Japanese
composer:

“We are extremely pleased to welcome Mr. Sakamoto next October at the World
Soundtrack Awards Gala where he will be the recipient of the Lifetime
Achievement Award for his work as a film composer. With his recent creative
collaboration with Mexican director Alejandro G.Inarritu on The Revenant,
Ryuichi Sakamoto found himself again at the forefront of the film music
profession."

"Ryuichi Sakamoto was already a celebrated rock-pop composer/pianist/producer
in Japan when he conquered the international film scene in 1983 with his
score for Nagisa Oshima’s Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, a film in which he
also starred alongside David Bowie. Ever since, his work for leading Japanese
(Oshima again for Gohatto) and international directors (Bernardo Bertolucci’s
The Last Emperor, in which he also played a part and for which he won an
Academy Award for best Original Score, The Sheltering Sky and Little Buddha;
Brian De Palma’s Snake Eyes and Femme Fatale; Pedro Almodovar’s High Heels;
Volker Schlöndorff’s The Handmaid’s Tale; Oliver Stone’s produced television
miniseries Wild Palms) revealed him as one of the most inventive film
composers of our time.

"For those films and many more Japanese titles that did not get released in
the West, he conceived a unique approach of composing for the movies: a blend
of splendid melodies, synthesizer work, traditional orchestral music, drum
tracks, sound effects and unusual musical colors. Out of the striking
contrasts of musical styles and cultures, he created standout scores that will
never stop to fascinate and enchant us’.”

Ryuichi Sakamoto, who recently scored Alejandro González Iñárritu’s worldwide hit
The Revenant, will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award during the WSAwards Gala
for his outstanding career in film music. A selection of his work will be performed
by Brussels Philharmonic and conducted by music director Dirk Brossé. The second
part of the WSAwards Gala will be entirely dedicated to the ‘new Golden Age of TV’.
In addition to compelling live performances of David Arnold and Michael Price’s
score for the British-American drama TV series Sherlock and Max Richter’s mysterious
soundtrack from cult-drama series The Leftovers by Brussels Philharmonic and the
Flemish Radio Choir, several composers will make their way to the stage for what is
often the debut of their scores played live in front of an audience. American
composer and arranger Jeff Russo will play drums during the live performance of his
Emmy nominated music from Fargo. Sean Callery, best known from his suspense-driven
scores on TV-series 24 and Homeland will perform piano on the latter. For the
performance of his score and theme for Netflix drama House of Cards, composer Jeff
Beal will take the stage.

Film Fest Gent will announce additional names of attending composers and the full
program by the end of June 2016.

Fans of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s work can support the recording of Film Fest Gent’s album
which focuses on the annual guest of honour of the WSAwards, by funding the
crowdfunding campaign ‘Bringing film music to your ears'. Returns include a signed
album by maestro Sakamoto himself, your name in the booklet, VIP tickets to the
WSAwards and other perks. The greater the contribution, the more you will receive.
The crowdfunding campaign will be launched on Wednesday, 4th of May on the online
platform Indiegogo. A budget of €10,000 is required to finance a share of the
recording of the album. You can discover everything about the campaign through this
link:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/brin … ears--2#/.

43rd Film Fest Gent runs from 11 to 22 October 2016
16th World Soundtrack Awards Ceremony & Concert
19 & 20 October 2016 at Capitole in Ghent
Tickets and info: www.filmfestival.be & www.worldsoundtrackawards.com.

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