Grace: Festival News

Grace, Austin Wintory’s latest project, won the Jury Prize at France’s prestigious Gerardmer International Fantasy Film Festival. The film, which premiered at Sundance this year, continues on the festival circuit. Here’s its tentative schedule:

South by Southwest (Austin, TX) March 13-21
AFI Dallas International Film Festival March 26-April 2
Phoenix Film Festival April 2-9
Fantasia International Film Festival (Montreal) July 16-August 3

Austin Wintory left an imprint on the thriller Grace even where his music can’t be heard. He met director Paul Solet the first night he moved in Los Angeles; they lived in the same apartment building. Solet explained Wintory’s creative role in the film during a recent interview:

“Composer Austin Wintory… came on board three and a half years ago. He read every single draft of the script and prepared 20 different cues for me to use on set for playback to elicit the emotions and rhythms I was looking for – with the intention of pulling the cues out and leaving the scenes dry and scoreless as you now see them, with the emotion of the music already infused within them. He even flew to set in Canada to record the sounds of the location – the creaking and breathing of the house, the water in the pipes, the hiss of the radiator.”

Quote from http://frightfestandme.blogspot.com/2009/02/passion-of-grace-by-paul-solet.html.

Kudos to Our Klients!

As awards season comes to an end with the Oscars, take a look back at some of our clients’ highlights during the past year:

• Two Costa clients, Mark Killian and Marc Streitenfeld, were “discoveries” at the WORLD SOUNDTRACK AWARDS in Ghent in October. The two vied for the title of “Discovery of the Year 2008,” and the winner was Marc… Streitenfeld, for American Gangster.



• On ELECTION DAY, Trevor Rabin’s music from Remember the Titans was recognized as the signature music of Barack Obama’s acceptance speech.





• At the HOLLYWOOD MUSIC AWARDS in November, newcomer Austin Wintory took home the title of “Best New Film Composer.” Wintory received the award in recognition of his score to Captain Abu Raed, the Jordanian film that won the Audience Award at Sundance in 2008. Aaron Zigman (Flash of Genius), Terence Blanchard (Miracle at St. Anna) and Jeff Beal (Appaloosa) were all nominated for Best Score, with Beal emerging as the winner.





• Liked Jennifer Hudson and Faith Hill’s performances at SUPER BOWL XLIII? Chris Walden arranged both of their songs, the National Anthem and “America the Beautiful,” respectively, for the big game.



• At the 36th annual ANNIE AWARDS, Kevin Kiner was honored with a nomination in the category of Music in an Animated Television Production or Short Form for Star Wars The Clone Wars: Rising Malevolence.



• Three Costa Communications clients received GRAMMY nominations. Composer Chris Walden was nominated for Best Orchestral Performance and Best Classical Contemporary Composition for his first classical album, “Symphony No.1: The Four Elements.” Walden also arranged the songs Jennifer Hudson and The Four Tops performed at the awards show. Composer and trumpeter Terence Blanchard won for Best Jazz Instrumental Solo from the album “Live at the 2007 Monterey Jazz Festival.” During the show, Blanchard performed “Tie My Hands” with Lil Wayne, Robin Thicke and pianist Allen Toussaint. Disney legend Alan Menken received three nominations: Best Musical Show Album for The Little Mermaid and Best Song Written For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media for “Ever Ever After” and “That’s How You Know,” both from Enchanted.












• We’d like to congratulate Kate Winslet on her ACADEMY AWARD Best Actress win for The Reader. We had the pleasure of working with The Weinstein Company to promote Nico Muhly’s score to the film.