Film music seminar with Shigeru Umebayashi

News 03 Sep 2009

With the festival focus on Asia, and composer Shigeru Umebayashi as special guest, this year's film music seminar will be focusing on the use of sound and music in contemporary Chinese film. The morning kicks off with a brief overview of Chinese film, in all its sensory splendour, by renowned sinologist Anne Sytske Keijser. Since the eighties (and the Chinese New Wave), Chinese film has been more heavily focused on the aesthetic experience, communicated through sound and image, than on conventional narrative. Music plays a pivotal role, with sounds mixed and edited in a very specific way to complement the director's vision. Anne Sytske Keijser and Martine Huvenne will demonstrate the effects in a number of sound and film clips.

In the afternoon session, Japanese composer Shigeru Umebayashi will be the honoured guest in an interview with Japanologist Luk Van Haute. Umebayashi is perhaps best known for penning Yumeji's Theme from Wong Kar Wai's In the Mood for Love. Originally written for Seijun Suzuki's Yumeji, this track has been featured in a number of different films, including Kar Wai's My Blueberry Nights. An accomplished composer, with more than 40 Chinese and Japanese film soundtracks to his credit, Umebayashi finds his inspiration all over the world, moving beyond a purely Asian sound to blend Eastern and Western influences. The seminar will be held on Friday 16 October 2009, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the Royal Conservatory (Koninklijk Conservatorium) on 64 Hoogpoort in Ghent. To register click here Organisers: the Ghent Film Festival in collaboration with University College Ghent, Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Hogeschool Gent, KASK).

Film music seminar with Shigeru Umebayashi

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