Film Fest Gent and the World Soundtrack Academy reveal the first wave of nominees for the 23rd edition of the World Soundtrack Awards, the annual musical highlight of FFG and one of the most prestigious awards ceremonies for film music worldwide.
Oscar winner Volker Bertelmann, multiple WSA-nominated composers such as Alexandre Desplat, Nicholas Britell and Gustavo Santaolalla, and singer-songwriter Taylor Swift are among the nominees in the three main categories: Film Composer of the Year, Television Composer of the Year and Best Original Song.
On 21 October, the WSA Ceremony concludes the 50th anniversary edition of Film Fest Gent, Belgium's largest international film festival.
Film Composer of the Year
The Film Composer of the Year category considers all film scores by the nominated composers in the past year. Due to an ex aequo, there are not five, but six nominees this year. The most striking is German composer Volker Bertelmann (also known as Hauschka). He won an Oscar in March for his music for the acclaimed war epic All Quiet on the Western Front. In addition to that score, Bertelmann also composed the music for another war film, Krigsseileren (War Soldier), and for the Finnish dystopian drama Veden Vartija (Memory of Water). This is Bertelmann's second WSA nomination. In 2018 he was nominated in the Television Composer of the Year category for Patrick Melrose and Gunpowder. Bertelmann is accompanied by five composers who already have a Film Composer of the Year Award under their belt.
Carter Burwell (winner in 2016) is nominated for his delicate and deceptively simple score for The Banshees of Inisherin by Martin McDonagh, the fourth collaboration between the British-Irish director and the composer. Burwell has had an incredible year, also with scores for Lena Dunham's catchy book adaptation Catherine Called Birdy and the thriller To Catch a Killer by Wild Tales director Damián Szifron. Five-time winner in this category, Alexandre Desplat, reclaims his place after an absence of two years. His nomination includes music for Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, The Lost King, Tirailleurs (Father & Soldier), A Cooler Climate and Wes Anderson's Asteroid City.
In 2020, Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir became the first woman to win the Film Composer of the Year Award. Now she has another chance at the prize with her remarkable scores for Women Talking and Tár, two films that received an Oscar nomination for Best Picture.
Daniel Pemberton (winner in 2021) is rewarded by the WSA Academy for his productive year with four acclaimed films: See How They Run, Enola Holmes 2, Amsterdam and the massive hit Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. John Williams also proved to be busy. At 91, he composed the music for Steven Spielberg's most personal film, The Fabelmans, and for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, the last time Harrison Ford brings the beloved archaeologist to life and also Williams' self-declared final film score. In 2001, John Williams became the very first winner of the Film Composer of the Year Award.
Television Composer of the Year
In the Television Composer of the Year category, there is an abundance of talent and critically acclaimed TV series that help define the golden age of television. Composers Chris Bacon & Danny Elfman composed the energetic score for Netflix hit Wednesday, yet another collaboration between Elfman and director Tim Burton. The series was such a success that a second season is in the works. Nicholas Britell, Television Composer of the Year 2022, is no stranger to the World Soundtrack Awards. In total, the American composer has already won five WSA Awards. In this edition, he has a chance to win with his scores for Andor, a well-received series in the Star Wars universe, and for the fourth and final season of Succession.
The World Soundtrack Academy also recognizes Bear McCreary. He had the daunting task of composing music for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. With respect for the legendary themes of Howard Shore, McCreary created a rich, self-contained score. Furthermore, the American also composed the scores for the fantasy series The Witcher: Blood Origin and the Catherine de' Medici portrait The Serpent Queen. The Last of Us made such an impression on gamers that a TV adaptation was inevitable. HBO's adaptation hit the mark, not only thanks to the performances, but also because of the now WSA-nominated music by Gustavo Santaolalla & David Fleming, which remained faithful to the minimalist score of the game. Cristobal Tapia de Veer is present in this category for the second year in a row with his music for the series The White Lotus. This time he worked with Kim Neundorf to build on the score of the first season, resulting in a completely unique sound.
Best Original Song
The Best Original Song category highlights the talent of musicians, songwriters and singers alike. Pop phenomenon Taylor Swift is nominated for her song "Carolina" from the film Where the Crawdads Sing. "Ciao Papa" from Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio gives Alexandre Desplat his second WSA nomination this year. The emotional song was written by Desplat, Guillermo del Toro and Roeban Katz. "Keep Rising", the closing song of The Woman King was written by Jessy Wilson, Jeremy Lutito and Angélique Kidjo. "Lift Me Up", performed by Rihanna, is the moving end credits song of the Marvel film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, written by Ludwig Göransson, Robyn Fenty, Ryan Coogler and Temilade Openiyi. Finally, the WSAcademy nominated the catchy musical number "Your Personal Trash Man Can", written by Thomas Mizer & Curtis Moore, from the fifth season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
Earlier, Film Fest Gent announced that composers Nicola Piovani and Laurence Rosenthal will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award for their enormous contributions to film and television music. Discovery of the Year 2022 Eiko Ishibashi is also one of the guests of honour at the World Soundtrack Awards this year.
A second wave of nominees - in the categories Discovery of the Year, Best Original Score for a Belgian Production, Sabam Award for Best Original Composition by a Young Composer, Public Choice Award and Game Music Award - will be announced in early September.
The 23rd edition of the World Soundtrack Awards takes place on Saturday 21 October 2023 in Capitole Gent.