Broadcast Music, Inc.® (BMI®) and the Sundance Film Festival will present the 17th annual Composer/Director Roundtable and 13th annual Snowball during the 2015 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, UT.
Entitled “Music & Film: The Creative Process,” BMI’s roundtable will take place on Tuesday, Jan. 27, from 4pm to 6pm, at the Filmmaker Lodge. The conversation will be moderated by Doreen Ringer-Ross, BMI's Vice President of Film/TV Relations. “Music & Film: The Creative Process” is a cornerstone event at the Festival exploring the role of music in film. Focusing on the relationship between composer and director, participants will discuss what goes into creating a successful film score, the ingredients of an effective composer/director relationship, the Sundance Film Festival experience and more.
"We are proud to be so closely aligned with the Sundance Institute Film Music Program throughout the year," said Ringer-Ross, "and we are committed to shining a light on our composers at the Sundance Film Festival because they provide an essential and deeply emotional element of filmmaking that is so subliminal that it often goes unnoticed and uncelebrated."
This year's panelists include composer H. Scott Salinas and director Matthew Heineman for Cartel Land; composer Ilan Eshkeri and Jared Hess for Don Verdean; composer Bryan Senti and director Michael Almereyda for Experimenter; composer Miriam Cutler and director Kirby Dick for The Hunting Ground; composer Peter Golub and director Chloé Zhao for Songs My Brother Taught Me; Nora Kroll-Rosenbaum and director Nikole Beckwith for Stockholm, Pennsylvania; composer Mark Orton and director Jim Strouse for People, Places, Things; composer Keegan Dewitt and Kris Swanberg for Unexpected; composer Dustin O’Halloran and director Prashant Nair for Umrika; T. Griffin and directors Michael Beach Nichols and Christopher K. Walker for Welcome to Leith; composer Heather McIntosh and director Craig Zobel for Z for Zachariah and composer H. Scott Salinas and director Mora Stephens for Zipper.
The Snowball--to be held on Wednesday, Jan. 28, at Sundance House Presented by HP (Kimball Arts Center)--will feature a diverse lineup of talented BMI singer-songwriters including iTunes breakthrough Pop Artist Christina Perri whose song “A Thousand Years” from the film The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn was certified 4x platinum. Also confirmed, the refreshingly sweet sounds of HONEYHONEY whose twist on roots music has garnered rave reviews from the likes of Paste Magazine and Buzz Bands LA among others. Also in the mix will be live act Desert Noises. Surprise artists will also be announced. The Snowball will begin at 8pm and is open to Festival Credential holders. BMI has historically showcased a phenomenal mixture of buzzworthy and iconic artists at the Festival. Performances have included Donovan, Rodriguez, David Poe, Allen Stone, Terence Blanchard, Keb’ Mo’, Michael Penn, Vanessa Carlton, Minnie Driver, Shelby Lynne, Alison Moorer, Dawes, Los Lobos, Cheap Trick, Devo, Beck, Joan Osborne, Adam Duritz, Death Cab for Cutie, Rosanne Cash, Robert Randolph, Brett Dennen, John Paul White, Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Percy Sledge, Den Penn & Spooner Oldham, among others.
Both the Composer/Director Roundtable and Snowball exemplify BMI’s focus on nurturing and sustaining relationships with emerging and established composers. The Film/TV department is proud of its long-standing relationship with Sundance Institute and its Sundance Film Festival to promote the value of music in film. As they continue these efforts, BMI’s innovation in the genre is unparalleled with a roster of Film/TV composers that includes John Williams, Alan Silvestri, Danny Elfman, Rachel Portman, David Newman, Thomas Newman, Mike Post, Harry Gregson-Williams, James Newton Howard, Mark Mothersbaugh, Rolfe Kent and Alexandre Desplat.
For more information on BMI events at the Sundance Film Festival as well as on-site coverage of the Festival, visit bmi.com/sundance.
