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IFMC Association announces winners of 2014 awards
19-Feb-2015 -

The International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) announces its list of winners for excellence in musical scoring in 2014, in the 2014 IFMCA Awards.

The award for Score of the Year goes to composer Hans Zimmer for his work on the Christopher Nolan-directed epic science fiction odyssey “Interstellar”. IFMCA member James Southall called the score “one of the most impressive creations of Zimmer’s career” and felt that the film “inspired him to create something unusually personal and about which he is understandably proud,” while IFMCA member Kaya Savas called Interstellar “one of Hans Zimmer’s finest accomplishments as a composer”. This is the third IFMCA Award of Zimmer’s career, and the first time he has been awarded Score of the Year.

French composer Alexandre Desplat was named Composer of the Year, for his astonishingly accomplished work on a half dozen scores spanning multiple genres; his work in 2014 included the blockbuster monster movie “Godzilla,” director Wes Anderson’s quirky comedy “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” the critically acclaimed biopic of British code breaker Alan Turing “The Imitation Game,” and the George Clooney-directed WWII drama “The Monuments Men,” all of which were nominated in their respective genre categories. The score for “The Grand Budapest Hotel” was also named Best Score for a Comedy Film. These are the tenth and eleventh IFMCA Awards of Desplat’s career, and it marks the fourth time he has been named Composer of the Year, following his previous wins in 2006, 2007, and 2010.

The IFMCA’s ongoing recognition of emerging talent in the film music world this year spotlights British composer Mica Levi, who was named Breakthrough Composer of the Year. Levi, who is best known as a singer/songwriter with her band Micachu & The Shapes, impressed IFMCA members with her debut score for the art-house science fiction drama “Under the Skin”. IFMCA member Alan Rogers called “Under the Skin” “a complex and carefully thought out score”.

Composer John Powell wrote the IFMCA’s Film Music Composition of the Year, “Flying With Mother,” and won the Best Animation Score award, both for his work on “How to Train Your Dragon 2”. In talking about Powell’s score, IFMCA member Jon Broxton noted that “anyone who loved the first score in this series will surely have the same reaction here, and anyone who loves good, old-fashioned, proper orchestral music, written by a composer who knows what he’s doing, performed by an ensemble of musicians at the top of their game, and containing an overwhelmingly positive sense of life, joy and enthusiasm will love it too.”

The various other genre awards were won by Marco Beltrami for director Tommy Lee Jones’s dark, bleak Western drama “The Homesman”; Christopher Young for the epic Chinese action adventure “The Monkey King”; James Newton Howard for Disney’s re-imagining of the classic Sleeping Beauty fantasy “Maleficent”; and Danny Elfman for his music for the political documentary “The Unknown Known”.

In the non-film categories, Argentine composer Federico Jusid won the award for Best Original Score for a Television Series for the second year in a row for his outstanding work on the third season of the Spanish historical TV drama “Isabel,” while composers Geoff Knorr, Griffin Cohen, Michael Curran and Grant Kirkhope won the award for Best Original Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media for their stellar work on “Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth”.

La-La Land Records won the Film Music Record Label of the Year category for the fifth straight year, solidifying their position at the top of the list of labels specializing in lovingly restoring the greatest film music of the past. However, both Archival categories were won by releases from Oakland, California-based Intrada Records and producer Douglass Fake; firstly, in the Re-Release or Re-Recording category, for their landmark release of the classic 1954 score for “On the Waterfront” by Leonard Bernstein; and, secondly, in the Compilation category, for their wonderful box-set of the legendary recordings Elmer Bernstein made for the Ava label between 1962 and1965, which include his masterwork scores for films such as “Walk on the Wild Side,” “The Carpetbaggers,” “The Caretakers,” “Baby the Rain Must Fall,” and “To Kill a Mockingbird”.

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COMPLETE LIST OF WINNERS

FILM SCORE OF THE YEAR
Interstellar, music by
Hans Zimmer

COMPOSER OF THE YEAR
Alexandre Desplat

BREAKTHROUGH COMPOSER OF THE YEAR
Mica Levi

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A DRAMA FILM
The Homesman, music by
Marco Beltrami

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A COMEDY FILM
The Grand Budapest Hotel, music by
Alexandre Desplat

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR AN ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLER FILM
The Monkey King [Xi You Ji: Da Nao Tian Gong], music by
Christopher Young

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A FANTASY/SCIENCE FICTION/HORROR FILM
Maleficent, music by
James Newton Howard

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR AN ANIMATED FEATURE
How to Train Your Dragon 2, music by
John Powell

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A DOCUMENTARY
The Unknown Known, music by
Danny Elfman

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A TELEVISION SERIES
Isabel, music by
Federico Jusid

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A VIDEO GAME OR INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth, music by Geoff Knorr, Griffin Cohen, Michael Curran and
Grant Kirkhope

BEST ARCHIVAL RELEASE OF AN EXISTING SCORE – RE-RELEASE OR RE-RECORDING
On the Waterfront; music by Leonard Bernstein, album produced by Douglass Fake, liner notes by Frank K. DeWald, album art direction by Joe Sikoryak (Intrada)

BEST ARCHIVAL RELEASE OF AN EXISTING SCORE – COMPILATION
The Ava Collection; music by Elmer Bernstein, album produced by Douglass Fake, liner notes by Douglass Fake, album art direction by Joe Sikoryak (Intrada)

FILM MUSIC RECORD LABEL OF THE YEAR
La-La Land Records, MV Gerhard and Matt Verboys

FILM MUSIC COMPOSITION OF THE YEAR
“Flying With Mother” from How to Train Your Dragon 2, music by
John Powell

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

Since its inception the IFMCA has grown to comprise over 60 members from countries such as Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.

Previous IFMCA Score of the Year Awards have been awarded to Abel Korzeniowski’s “Romeo & Juliet” in 2013, Mychael Danna’s “Life of Pi” in 2012, John Williams’s “War Horse” in 2011, John Powell’s “How to Train Your Dragon” in 2010, Michael Giacchino’s “Up” in 2009, Alexandre Desplat’s “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” in 2008, Dario Marianelli’s “Atonement” in 2007, James Newton Howard’s “Lady in the Water” in 2006, John Williams’s “Memoirs of a Geisha” in 2005 and Michael Giacchino’s “The Incredibles” in 2004.

For more information about the International Film Music Critics Association go to www.filmmusiccritics.org , visit our Facebook page, follow us on Twitter @ifmca, or contact us at press@filmmusiccritics.org.
The International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) announces its list of winners for excellence in musical scoring in 2014, in the 2014 IFMCA Awards.

 



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