Mychael Danna was chosen as Film Composer of the Year at the World Soundtrack Awards 2013, tonight’s closing event of the 40th Ghent Film Festival. Danna also received an award for his score for Ang Lee’s Life of Pi in the Best Original Film Score of the Year 2012 category. The composer accepted his awards via a video message. In the Discovery of the Year category, Benh Zeitlin and Dan Romer were awarded for their score for the indie drama Beasts of the Southern Wild, which Zeitlin also directed. In the Best Original Song written directly for a Film category, Adele and Paul Epworth received the honor for the title song for Sam Mendes’ James Bond film Skyfall. For the first time since 2002, both score and song awards matched the outcome of the respective categories at the Academy Awards.
The Public Choice Award went toTurkish composer Rahman Altin for his music for the historical drama The Butterfly’s Dream. As previously announced, Riz Ortolani received received a World Soundtrack Lifetime Achievement Award. The awards ceremony also featured a celebration of the music of Alexandre Desplat who attended the event in person. Thomas Newman who was nominated as Film Composer of the Year and for his score for Skyfall also attended the World Soundtrack Awards gala for the first time. Check out our previous article for the full list of nominations.
