International Film Critics Association 2008 Award Winners Announced

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

THE INTERNATIONAL FILM MUSIC CRITICS ASSOCIATION (IFMCA) ANNOUNCES ITS 2008 WINNERS FOR SCORING EXCELLENCE

ALEXANDRE DESPLAT’S THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON WINS BEST SCORE OF 2008

February 19, 2009. Alexandre Desplat wins the 2008 IFMCA’S Film Score of the Year Award for THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON, David Fincher’s imaginative re-telling of a 1921 F. Scott Fitzgerald short story about a man who ages backwards from an old man to a baby. These are the fourth and fifth awards for Desplat from the IFMCA, having been named Composer of the Year in 2006 and 2007. The score also wins Best Original Score for a Dramatic Film.

Danny Elfman is named Film Composer of the Year for his excellence in scoring four high-profile movies this year: MILK, WANTED, HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY and STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE. The latter score also wins Elfman an individual scoring award for Best Original Score for a Documentary Feature.

Canadian composer Andrew Lockington wins Breakout Composer of the Year for his two high-profile scores in 2008: JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH and CITY OF EMBER. Lockington is a former orchestrator for fellow Canadian composer Mychael Danna, and worked with his countryman on scores such as 8MM, GIRL INTERRUPTED and HEARTS IN ATLANTIS before embarking on his solo composing career.

Thomas Newman’s score for Pixar’s WALL*E wins Best Original Score for an Animated Feature. John Williams’ score for Steven Spielberg’s INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL wins Best Original Score for an Action/Adventure Film, and James Newton Howard wins for his score to THE HAPPENING in the Best Original Score for a Horror/Thriller Film category. Javier Naverette’s score to INKHEART, which opened in parts of Europe in 2008, receives the award for Best Original Score for a Fantasy/Science Fiction Film. The Coen Brothers’ BURN AFTER READING wins Best Original Score for a Comedy Film for their longtime collaborator Carter Burwell, and Michael Giacchino wins Film Music Composition of the Year for his “Roar Overture” from CLOVERFIELD that played during the end credits of the monster ‘reality’ movie which otherwise did not include any other underscore.

Non-film winners include Robert Lane and Joseph Vitarelli, who win Best Original Score for Television to for their score for the HBO mini-series, JOHN ADAMS; Norwegian composer Knut Avenstroup Haugen, who wins Best Original Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media for the Funcom PC role-playing game AGE OF CONAN: HYBORIAN ADVENTURES; and the Intrada label, which wins Film Music Record Label of the Year for the third year in a row for their continuing excellence in releasing older, catalog scores, some for the first time, including their world premiere release of the complete score to Jerry Goldsmith’s 1978 THE BOY FROM BRAZIL, which wins this year’s prize for Best New Release/Re-Release of an Existing Score.


2008 FILM WINNERS:

FILM SCORE OF THE YEAR
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, music by Alexandre Desplat

FILM COMPOSER OF THE YEAR
• Danny Elfman

BREAKOUT COMPOSER OF THE YEAR
• Andrew Lockington

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A DRAMA FILM
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, music by Alexandre Desplat

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A COMEDY FILM
• Burn After Reading, music by Carter Burwell

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR AN ACTION/ADVENTURE FILM
• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, music by John Williams

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A FANTASY/SCIENCE FICTION FILM
• Inkheart, music by Javier Navarrete

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A HORROR/THRILLER FILM
• The Happening, music by James Newton Howard

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR AN ANIMATED FEATURE
• Wall*E, music by Thomas Newman

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
• Standard Operating Procedure, music by Danny Elfman

FILM MUSIC COMPOSITION OF THE YEAR
• Cloverfield: “Roar Overture,” music by Michael Giacchino


OTHER CATEGORIES:

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR TELEVISION
• John Adams, music by Robert Lane and Joseph Vitarelli

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A VIDEO GAME OR INTERACTIVE MEDIA
• Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, music by Knut Avenstroup Haugen

BEST NEW RELEASE/RE-RELEASE OF AN EXISTING SCORE
• The Boys from Brazil, music by Jerry Goldsmith; produced by Douglass Fake (Intrada)

BEST RE-RECORDING OF AN EXISTING SCORE
• El Cid, music by Miklós Rózsa; conducted by Nic Raine, produced by James Fitzpatrick (Tadlow)

BEST COMPILATION ALBUM OR BOX SET
• Indiana Jones: The Soundtracks Collection, music by John Williams; produced by Laurent Bouzereau (Concord)

FILM MUSIC RECORD LABEL OF THE YEAR
• Intrada


The International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) is an association of online, print and radio journalists who specialize in writing about original film and television music.

The IFMCA was originally formed in the late 1990s as the now-defunct “Film Music Critics Jury” by editor and journalist Mikael Carlsson, a regular contributor to Music from the Movies, and the owner of the Swedish independent film music label MovieScore Media.

Since its inception, the IFMCA has grown to comprise over 50 members from countries as diverse as Australia, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.

Previous IFMCA Score of the Year Awards have been awarded to Dario Marianelli’s ATONEMENT in 2007, James Newton Howard’s LADY IN THE WATER in 2006, John Williams’ MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA in 2005 and Michael Giacchino’s THE INCREDIBLES in 2004.

For more information about the International Film Music Critics Association, its members and the list of past awards, please visit http://www.filmmusiccritics.org or contact press@filmmusiccritics.org.