Music Meets Film. a strand of Industry @Tallinn & Baltic Event primarily intended for film scoring composers and filmmakers, but also for a broader audience searching for hidden layers within music in film, marks its 10th anniversary this year. The programme taking place during 21-23 November in Tallinn takes a closer look at the “Musical Perspective of Meaning and Symbolism in Film”. It welcomes director and producer Mike Newell, documentalist Andrey A. Tarkovsky and director Nina Degraeve amongst many other distinguished international experts as speakers. In addition, Music Meets Film will also launch a special award to young and talented composers.
The Music Meets Film Award aims to support and promote talented young film composers. The initiative awards its prize of 2000 EUR as well as a package of Orchestral Tool’s virtual instruments including their acclaimed Tallinn collection. Participants are invited to compose an original soundtrack to a video clip, to demonstrate their composition skills and musical creativity. The clip is provided in partnership with BFM – Tallinn University Baltic Film, Media and Arts School. The winner will be selected by a jury of music and film professionals from this years’ Music Meets Film panelists, and announced on 23 November.
Full competition details and instructions on how to enter can be found here
Michael Pärt, the curator of Music Meets Film says that over the past 10 years the programme has undergone many changes: from the format, content to the audience. By now, the programme is known for its compact but intensive three-day format that allows panellists and experts to share their creative and industry experience to an ever-growing hybrid audience - both live and streamed globally. Additionally, Music Meets Film has attracted strong interest from countless music academies and film schools across Europe with the intent of bringing programme's content to university students’ curriculum programs.
This year, the programme of Music Meets Film will kick off with an opening panel that touches on the current trends in the film and scoring industry. In the discussion director Mike Newell, composer Mihkel Zilmer, and cinematographer Alar Kivilo will share their experiences from their extensive film and scoring careers and will also delve into the inevitable - on how Covid is shaping and changing the industry. Also, Newell will share his personal approach of planning a score in a case study as well as discuss his greatest failures - and how they’ve come out of it stronger, together with Alari Kivilo.
The second day is traditionally held in Laulasmaa at the Arvo Part Centre, and includes a broader and philosophical approach. Documentary maker Andrey A. Tarkovsky and director Nina Degraeve will take the audience to the musical universe of Russian filmmakers Andrei Tarkovsky's "The Mirror" and Andrei Zvyagintsev's "Loveless" to discover the meaning of music and the implication of silence. In a special lecture-recital format, with a concert included, pianist and film musicologist Anyssa Neumann will explore the use and development of concert music in the films spanning over 6 decades of Bergman's work. The day will conclude with a screening of Ingmar Bergman's final film Saraband, which demonstrates how music can be part of the structure, sound, act, presence, content, and even a kind of religious philosophy, combined into a holistic entity. Film scholar and Bergman specialist Jan Holmberg will carry out a special introduction prior to the screening.
The anniversary edition of the 10th Music Meets Film takes place between 21-23 November 2021 in Tallinn and Laulasmaa. Whilst all panel discussions, the concert and film screening are planned with a live audience, the majority of the sessions are also broadcasted live as well as viewable on demand. In 2021 Music Meets Film is partnering up with Orchestral Tools - a virtual instruments company located in Germany.