Night of Glory and Praise for Gabriel Yared and Cold Mountain at the World So

The Lebanese born composer - who once wrote that Ghent was a music city by excellence since it was home to Philippe Herreweghe and the Collegium Vocale, and the Flanders Film Festival putting the focus on Impact of Music on Film - received the most brilliant awards a film music composer can dream of. No need to say that the fact that these awards are given by film professionals, increases the value of these awards. Gabriel Yared received two of the most prestigious ones: Soundtrack Composer of the Year and Best Original Soundtrack of the Year both for his 'Cold Mountain' score. The soundtrack of this film was awarded with a third prize : Best Original Song Written for Film ('You will be my Ain True Love written by Sting and performed by Alison Krauss).

The Public Choice Award went to John Williams for his score for 'Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban', while the Discovery of the Year Award was given to Gustavo Santaollala for '21 Grams'. Sir George Martin presented the World Soundtrack Lifetime Achievement Award to song writers Alan and Marilyn Bergman, while the award for the Best Young Belgian Composer was taken by Steven Prengels.

The Night of talent also featured young composers like Belgian singer/song writer Sioen and Brazilian composer Antonio Pinto, established names like Wim Mertens and a tribute to the recently deceased musical poets as Elmer Bernstein, David Raksin and Michael Kamen.

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These were the Nominations:

Soundtrack Composer of the Year
Harry Gregson-Williams (Shrek 2)
Alberto Iglesias (La Mala Educación)
Daniel Tarrab/Andrés Goldstein (La Puta y la Ballena)
John Williams (Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban)
Gabriel Yared (Cold Mountain)

Best Original Soundtrack of the Year
Cold Mountain (by Gabriel Yared)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (by Jon Brion)
Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban (by John Williams)
Pirates of the Caribbean: the Curse of the Black Pearl (by Klaus Badelt)
Shrek 2 (by Harry Gregson-Williams)

Best Original Song Written for Film
Accidentally in Love (Shrek 2 - Adam Duritz, Dan Vickrey, David Immergluck, David Bryson & Matthew Malley, performed by Counting Crows)
Into the West (Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King - Annie Lennox, Howard Shore & Fran Walsh, performed by Annie Lennox)
Man of the Hour (Big Fish - Eddie Vedder, performed by Pearl Jam)
Remember Me (Troy - James Homer & Cynthia Weil, performed by Josh Groban & Tanja Tzarovska)
You will be my Ain True Love (Cold Mountain, Sting, performed by Alisson Krauss)

Discovery of the Year 2004
Brion Jon Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind
Iva Davies, Christopher Gordon & Richard Tognetti Master & Commander, the Far side of the world
Henson Christian Les Fils du Vent, Chasing Liberty
Santaollalla Gustavo 21 Grams
Tarrab Daniel and Andres Goldstein La Puta y Ballena

The following composers were present

Dirk Brossé, Fonny De Wulf, Frank Nuyts, Brian Clifton, Frédéric De Vreese, Maurice Jarre, David Arnold, Ed Cortès, Antonio Pinto, Cyril Morin, Daniel Tarrab, Andres Goldstein, Tuomas Kantelinen, Don Black, Gabriel Yared, Alberto Iglesias, Sir George Martin, Christian Henson, Wim Mertens, Sioen and Klaus Badelt

Present also were the film celebrities

Jonathan Pryce, Colm Meaney, Shekhar Kapur, Eran Riklis, Stefan Arsenijvic, Alejo Taube, Tom Schilling, Ariane Kessissoglou, Daniel Elliott, Duane Hopkins, Christian Becker, Oliver Schwabe, Jozef Dabernig, Carine Tardieu, Eléonore Faucher, Lola Naymark, Skarid Torbjorn, Steve Hudson, Cristian Nemescu, and Giancarlo Bocchi., among many others.