22nd World Soundtrack Awards Ceremony & Concert
On 22 October, Film Fest Gent brought together the cream of the international film music crop for the World Soundtrack Awards Ceremony & Concert. This time in the Concert Hall of De Bijloke. Guest of honour was the versatile American composer en jazz artist Mark Isham. He wrote memorable scores for films such as Judas and the Black Messiah by Shaka King, Crash by Paul Haggis and Nell by Michael Apted (which received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Score). His music for A River Runs Through It (Robert Redford) received both an Oscar and a Grammy nomination.
This year's recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award was French composer Bruno Coulais, who has built an impressive career in film music with his highly recognisable lyrical and imaginative scores. In 1996 he already got celebrated at Film Fest Gent when he won the Georges Delerue Award for Best Soundtrack for Microcosmos. And in 1996 the international jury of FFG gave Coulais a Special Mention for his music for Himalaya, l'enfance d'un chef. More recently, Bruno Coulais scored the much-praised folklore trilogy by Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon: The Secret of Kells (2009), Song of the Sea (2014) and Wolfwalkers (2020).
Also cordially invited to the World Soundtrack Awards 2022 was our Discovery of the Year 2021, Nainita Desai. In recent years the British composer has made her mark with impressive scores for - among others - the Oscar-nominated For Sama (2019), BAFTA-nominated documentary American Murder and the Sundance favourite The Reason I Jump, as well as Netflix hit 14 Peaks.
During the World Soundtrack Awards Ceremony & Concert several awards were handed out: Film Composer of the Year, Television Composer of the Year, Best Original Song, Discovery of the Year, Sabam Award for Best Original Composition by a Young Composer, Public Choice Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Throughout the Awards Ceremony, Brussels Philharmonic conducted by Maestro Dirk Brossé performed music by Mark Isham, Bruno Coulais and Nainita Desai.