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Composer Austin Wintory Scores

Grace

Premieres at Sundance on Jan. 16^th

Los Angeles, CA – Film composer Austin Wintory returns to the Sundance Film Festival with his score for the psychological thriller Grace, the feature film debut of writer/director Paul Solet. Austin Wintory is currently receiving critical acclaim for his score to Academy Award contender Captain Abu Raed, which won the Audience Award at Sundance last year. At just 26 years old, Wintory has already been BAFTA nominated and last year was presented an award for “Best New Film Composer.” Grace will be shown as part of the Park City at Midnight series, premiering Friday, January 16, at 11:59 p.m. at the Egyptian Theatre.

Wintory’s role in the production of Grace went a step further than that of a typical composer. As a friend of director Paul Solet, Wintory was involved with the film very early on. Before any filming occurred, Wintory wrote 20 minutes of music based on the script, and then flew to the set to play the music for the actors and discuss their characters. None of that music was ever meant to be part of the score; Wintory wrote entirely new music for the finished film.

For his Grace score, Wintory took an experimental approach. The score consists of manipulated sounds, including recordings of creaking floorboards on the set, a baby crying and flies buzzing. Wintory even used traditional instruments in non-traditional ways, weaving a piece of plastic through the strings of a cello and assembling the largest group of clarinets ever recorded in London at Abbey Road. The score also features vocalist Lisbeth Scott (Captain Abu Raed, Passion of the Christ). Scott wrote lyrics to the lullaby sung by the mother, which is repeated as a theme sung by Scott throughout the score. “I have no intention of ever working with another composer,” said Solet.

Austin Wintory taught himself how to compose, orchestrate and conduct in high school, before attending NYU and USC. His first short film at NYU won a local scoring competition and premiered at New York’s Lincoln Center. At USC, Wintory studied under Golden Globe nominated composer Christopher Young (The Shipping News, Spider-Man 3). In the three years since beginning his professional career, Wintory received a BAFTA nomination for the videogame flOw, was named “Best New Film Composer” at the Hollywood Music Awards and is listed as an Oscar contender for Captain Abu Raed by the Los Angeles Times. His upcoming film projects include the comedy Knuckle Dragger and dark drama The Sunset Sky.

Grace stars Jordan Ladd as a pregnant woman who loses her unborn child though a sudden tragic accident. She carries the stillborn baby to term, where she miraculously wills the delivered corpse into life. But it is not too long before the increasingly isolated mother realizes that something is not right with baby Grace, and she must make horrible sacrifices to keep her living.