In 2019 the World Soundtrack Academy is very pleased to welcome globally acclaimed composer Marco Beltrami as guest of honour. His oeuvre includes genre-bending scores for the Scream-franchise as well as Academy Award-nominated work for 3:10 to Yuma (2007) and The Hurt Locker (2008). Beltrami also received a Golden Globe nomination for box office hit A Quiet Place (2018) and scored the Oscar-winning National Geographic documentary Free Solo (2018).
As a yearly tradition we are happy to welcome the winner of the previous World Soundtrack Discovery of the Year Award to the stage to perform new music. This year, our guest is Brooklyn-born musician and composer Tamar-kali, who won the award in 2018 for her music in Dee Rees' Oscar-nominated film Mudbound (2017).
Moreover, Film Fest Gent is overjoyed with the opportunity to offer world famous Polish avant-garde composer Krzysztof Penderecki the Lifetime Achievement Award. Penderecki’s layered compositions, particularly his Polymorphia, inspired both William Friedkin and Stanley Kubrick while they were working on The Exorcist (1973) and The Shining (1980) respectively – two films that pushed the limits of the horror film in their own way.
In addition to the international guests, this year's edition pays homage to an icon of Belgian film music, Frédéric Devreese. In light of his 90th birthday, the father of Belgian film music also receives a World Soundtrack Lifetime Achievement Award. His extensive repertoire, featuring scores for André Delvaux and Hugo Claus, is honoured.
Brussels Philharmonic, conducted by maestro Dirk Brossé, performs original scores composed by Marco Beltrami, as well as selected pieces by Krzysztof Penderecki and Frédéric Devreese, accompanied by film clips on the big screen.
During the World Soundtrack Awards Ceremony & Concert several other awards are 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 Best Original Score for a Belgian Production.