Nominerade till nordiska filmmusikpriset HARPA 2020

Kompositörerna Anders Niska och Klas Wahl har utsetts till Sveriges bidrag till det nordiska filmmusikpriset HARPA, för sin musik i dokumentären Balloons over Babylon (Ovan Babylon) av Folke Rydén. Vem som tar hem priset avgörs under Nordic Film Music Days i Berlin 23-24 februari 2020.

For a thoroughly composed score with several emotional nuances and delicate use of themes. The music framed the scenes with utterly sensitivity, created structure and enhanced the story telling, which shows excellent film scoring craftsmanship.

Anders Niska och Klas Wahl. Foton: Sara P Borgström, Henrik Mårtensson

”As an artist or composer you struggle all the time composing and creating. Sometimes everything flows and at other times you are just stuck. When I got the news about this nomination I was working very hard but I came nowhere. All of a sudden everything changed! It means a lot to us and it shows that we are doing something right! It’s the relationship with people like Folke Rydén and other creative filmmakers that makes it fun. When you bring something to the table or try to push things from your comfort zone, you need trust. I think we got that in Balloons Over Babylon. So, to get nominated is just so much more than the music for us.”

Läs mer om Anders Niska och Klas Wahl här.

Se Ovan Babylon på Svt Play här.

HARPA Award delades för första gången ut 2010 i samband med Göteborgs filmfestival och Skap som var drivande i att skapa detta nordiska filmmusikpris har sedan dess utsett Sveriges bidrag, tillsammans med Fst. Priset delas ut under Nordic Film Music Days i Berlin 23-24 februari 2020, som förutom prisceremonin bjuder på seminarium, paneler, filmvisning av de nominerade bidragen och nätverksmöjligheter.

Läs mer och anmäl dig här!

Pressrelease
NOMINEES FOR 10TH ANNUAL HARPA NORDIC FILM COMPOSER AWARDS ANNOUNCED

Composers from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden nominated, with the winner to be announced on Feb 24th during HARPA Nordic Film Music Days at Nordische Botschaften in Berlin.

The composer organizations from the five Nordic countries announced the nominees for the 10th Annual HARPA Nordic Film Composer Awards. The nominees are Kåre Bjerkø (Denmark) for “The Truth Will Out”, Panu Aaltio (Finland) for “Luontosinfonia”, Gyda Valtysdottir (Iceland) for “Mihkel”, Gaute Storaas (Norway) for “Bröllup, Begravning och Dop”, and Anders Niska & Klas Wahl (Sweden) for “Balloons over Babylon.” The five nominated composers show once again the versatility, high quality, and strong individual grit of Nordic music talent.

The award ceremony will take place on Monday, Feb 24th at the Auditorium of the Felleshus of the Nordic Embassies/ Nordische Botschaften, Rauchstrasse 1, 10787 Berlin as part of the Nordic Film Music Days.

The winner of HARPA Nordic Film Composers Award 2020 will be selected by an international jury, consisting of Davíð Þór Jónsson, (Film Composer and 2019 HARPA award winner, Iceland), Christine Aufderhaar (Film Composer, Switzerland), Annette Gentz (Managing Director/ Film Music Supervisor, Annette Gentz Music & Film Arts, Germany), Florian Vollmers (Festival Management, Nordic Film Days Lübeck, Germany), and George Christopoulos (Music Agent, Greece).

Since 2016 the HARPA Nordic Film Music Days and the HARPA Nordic Film Composers Awards have been taking place at the Nordische Botschaften in Berlin in connection with the Berlinale Film Festival. Building on past experiences, and with new impulses and collaborators, the Nordic Film Music Days will bring exciting and innovative composers for media music from the Nordic countries to Berlinale. It’s a great opportunity to meet Nordic composers, listen to their music and learn from their work. The HARPA Nordic Film Music Days, in collaboration with EAVE producers, Berlinale Talents, and European Film Market, will take place on Sunday, Feb 23rd and Monday, Feb 24th. During those two days, audience members will have the opportunity to watch the five nominated movies and listen to the scores, witness engaging panels and insightful talks, attend the HARPA Award show, and mingle with Nordic composers & composer organizations during the award after-party with music entertainment.

All events and activities are open to the public and free of charge with sign-up.

Sign-Up for the HARPA Awards

Sign-Up for the After-Party

The full program for the HARPA Nordic Film Music Days lectures and talks will be announced on Feb. 1st.

About the nominated composers:

Kåre Bjerkø (Denmark) for “The Truth Will Out”
Statement: “It is extremely nice when someone appreciates my work. As a film composer, you often disappear into the role of a form of craftsman, so this nomination is clearly something I am proud of.”
For more information: http://www.nordicfilmmusicdays.com/karingre-bjerkoslash-dk.html

Panu Aaltio (Finland) for “Nature Symphony – Luontosinfonia”
Statement: “I’m truly honored and humbled to receive the nomination among all the amazing competition this year. I’m particularly happy it is for this exact film, which has been so important to me personally. There’s huge possibility in taking people on a nature adventure where they bring the narrative from their own experience. I think it can lead to deeper empathy and understanding.”
For more information: http://www.nordicfilmmusicdays.com/panu-aaltio-fi.html

Gyda Valtysdottir (Iceland) for “Mihkel”
Statement from director Ari Alexander Ergis Magnússon:
“From the first day that I meet Gyda, 15 years ago, I felt that she was a musical genius and I was just waiting for the right moment for us to collaborate. Filmmaking is a huge marathon and it was many years later when I had written this script Mihkel when I saw her again. By total accident I went to a concert by Gyda. There she was performing like a beautiful creature from a unknown planet, this was the sound and mood I had been looking for. I asked her after the
concert if we could meet for a coffee, due to that I had a film coming up. I gave her the script, she liked it and then the real work began. It was wonderful to work with her, so amazing, she is a hard working composer full of beautiful ideas, and here we are today.“
For more information: http://www.nordicfilmmusicdays.com/gyetha-valtyacutesdoacutettiris.html

Gaute Storaas (Norway) for “Bröllup, Begravning Och Dop”
Statement: “For everybody expressing themselves, it is important to be seen, and when it’s your actual profession, it’s vital. It is such a nice message to get, and I feel very fortunate to be chosen as my country’s nominee. I know they have considered works by colleagues I have the deepest respect for, and it makes me humble and grateful. I received the award in 2011. That was a pleasant shock, and I think it helped put my name on the radar of film workers in the neighboring countries. The last decade, I have actually been working more in Sweden than in Norway, and I
wholeheartedly support the Nordic idea.“
For more information: http://www.nordicfilmmusicdays.com/gaute-storaas-n.html

Anders Niska & Klas Wahl (Sweden) for “Balloons over Babylon”
Statement: ”As an artist or composer you struggle all the time composing and creating. Sometimes everything flows and at other times you are just stuck. When I got the news about this nomination I was working very hard but I came nowhere. All of a sudden everything changed! It means a lot to us and it shows that we are doing something right!
It’s the relationship with people like Folke Rydén and other creative filmmakers that makes it fun. When you bring something to the table or try to push things from your comfort zone, you need trust. I think we got that in Balloons Over Babylon. So, to get nominated is just so much more than the music for us.”
For more information: http://www.nordicfilmmusicdays.com/niska–wahl-se.html

For images of all nominated composers: https://tinyurl.com/rfcp6u3

About HARPA Nordic Film Composer Days and HARPA Nordic Film Music Awards:
Since 2009 the Nordic film composers from the five Nordic countries have met twice a year. As part of the strategy to put more attention to Nordic Film Music the HARPA Nordic Film Composers Award was created. By meeting at Nordic Film Music Days, the film and media composers are also exchanging ideas, and thereby strengthening the awareness of the working situation of the film and media composers in each country. Working from a multifaceted musical palette with a vast variety of experiences to draw from, the Nordic film and media composers are known for their ability to do whatever it takes to tell the story; whatever it takes to serve the film.

Partners in HARPA Nordic Film Music Days:
Skap (The Swedish Society of Songwriters, Composers & Authors)
FST (Föreningen af Svenske Tonsättere) Music Finland
Finnish Music Creators FMC STEF (Icelandic Collective Rights Management Society)
NOPA (Norwegian Society of Composers and Lyricists)
Norsk Komponistforening (Norwegian Society of Composers)
Music Norway
BFM (Danish Organization for Film- and Media Composers)
MXD Music Export Denmark

Press contact:
White Bear PR | Thomas Mikusz
thomas@whitebearpr.com | +1.310.230.5678

Nordic Film Music Days is supported by Nordic Film and tv foundation and carried out as a cooperation between the HARPA partners and Nordische Botschaften.