Film Fest Gent presents on 19 October 2023 the concert PRESS PLAY: Music in Games, which will bring music composed for video games to life. The music of, among others, composer Austin Wintory - known from award-winning games such as Journey and Abzû and who will also present the concert - will be performed live by Brussels Philharmonic under the direction of Dirk Brossé. Film Fest Gent is also launching a new international music prize, namely for the best original score for a video game and/or other interactive media: the WSA Game Music Award, a prize chosen by the audience.
Video game music has by 2023 grown into a genre that stands on its own and plays a crucial role in immersing players in virtual worlds and guiding the story. Film Fest Gent, which has positioned itself since the 1980s as a festival with a special focus on film music and brings the greatest film composers to Gent, finds it essential to now also recognize the talent behind video game music, talent that often no longer draws the line between composing for the big screen or for games.
A new music prize, the WSA Game Music Award, will be presented from 2023 onwards for the best score for a video game and/or other interactive media. Additionally, Film Fest Gent's annual film music concert will this year be dedicated to music in games.
"The video game has grown over the past decades into a particularly influential and dynamic medium, which has meanwhile also paved the way for new media and AI. Composing for video games is different than for cinema, but Film Fest Gent and the World Soundtrack Academy have always found it crucial to spotlight composers who write music for all audiovisual media. We are therefore delighted to now formally recognize music for video games through a special WSAward and to dedicate this year's symphonic film music concert to the genre. This will once again demonstrate how 'for screen' composers are versatile, and how many musical gems can also be found among these soundtracks."
— Wim De Witte, programme director Film Fest Gent
First guest: Austin Wintory
Host of the concert - and thus also the first official guest of the concert
PRESS PLAY: Music in Games - is Austin Wintory, whose music will also be performed. He is known for his work in video game music, particularly for his scores for the games
Journey,
Assassin's Creed Syndicate,
Abzû and
Flow. His soundtrack for
Journey made history in 2013 as the first and only video game score to receive a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media.
In 2021 he was already a guest at Film Fest Gent during the WSA Film Music Days for a Composer's Talk to reflect on his career as a composer and his experiences with remuneration in the industry. Austin Wintory's work will be performed during the concert. As a composer who has also fought to give video game music the recognition it deserves as a genre, he will also present.
"I have long admired what happens in Gent every year during the World Soundtrack Awards, and it was a privilege to be a guest in 2021. It is a dream to return as host for this concert, to celebrate this beautiful art form and my many talented colleagues!"
— Austin Wintory, composer
Annual composition contest dedicated to game Abzû
Film Fest Gent's annual composition contest - which seeks to discover emerging film music talent worldwide and give it a platform - will this year also be dedicated to video game music.
Participants will be asked to create a new score for a fragment from the game
Abzû, developed by the studio 'Giant Squid' and published by 505 Games, for which the original music was composed by Austin Wintory.
Abzû is an epic descent into the depths of the sea, where players explore beautifully rendered ocean environments with fluid swimming controls. The name refers to a concept from the oldest mythologies, combining the two ancient words 'ab', meaning ocean, and 'zû', meaning knowledge.
Abzû is the ocean of wisdom.
Young international talents in film music are given the opportunity each year to participate in the WSA Film Music Composition Contest and have a chance to win the Sabam Award for Best Original Composition by a Young Composer, worth 2,500 euros. Participants are invited to demonstrate their skills as composers by writing a symphonic score for a selected fragment from the game. A jury selects three finalists, whose compositions will be performed by Brussels Philharmonic during the annual World Soundtrack Awards Ceremony and Concert, which will take place this year on Saturday 21 October at Capitole Gent.
