NEWS FROM COSTA COMMUNICATIONS


From Costa Communications:-

AWARD WINNING FILM COMPOSERS FEATURED ON

FILM MUSIC PANEL AT NEWPORT BEACH FILM FESTIVAL

SATURDAY APRIL 25

FROM HAIRSPRAY TO PASSION OF THE CHRIST REPRESENTED

Leading Hollywood composers will participate in the festival's Film Composers Panel, presented Saturday, April 25 at 9:00am (ending at 11:00am), at Fashion Island, Edwards Island 7 Theaters (999 Newport Center Drive, Newport Beach CA 92660). Participating on the panel will be Marc Shaiman, John Debney, Shawn Clement and Austin Wintory; moderated by Daily Varity’s Steve Chagollan.

A Tony Award winner for Hairspray, Shaiman also penned songs for Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me and the upcoming Catch Me If You Can. Shaiman earned Academy Award nominations for the scores to South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, Patch Adams, The First Wives Club, The American President and Sleepless in Seattle. His extensive career also includes collaborations with Bette Midler, Patti LuPone, Rosemary Clooney, Barbara Streisand, Billy Crystal, Harry Connick, Jr. and Peter Allen

Academy Award nominated composer John Debney will be joining Shaiman on the panel. In addition to his Academy Award nominated score to The Passion of the Christ, Debney has received several Emmy awards, a Dove award for The Passion of the Christ, a CUE award for the score to the videogame Lair and several gold and platinum selling albums, including The Passion of the Christ and The Princess Diaries. Debney was the youngest recipient of the ASCAP Henry Mancini Award for Career Achievement, and has conducted concerts of his music with orchestras throughout the United States and Europe. Last year, Debney set the tone to the dramatic film The Stoning of Soraya M. (adapted from the New York Times best seller), which received critical acclaim at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival and will be released to select theatres June 26.

Award-winning film composer Shawn Clement will also be speaking on the panel. Clement is currently scoring the Large Format, 3-D, computer-generated animated film Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey, which takes viewers on an atomic solar safari through the universe. Clement credits include Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu; his dramatic musical style is evident in such shows as World’s Wildest Police Videos, American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance. A multifaceted composer whose creative accomplishments have earned him many ASCAP Film & TV Music Award, Clement’s additional credits include Last Chance. Queer Eye and video game titles including Open Season, The Sims 2 and Batman: Vengeance. Clement just completed recording his original score for Quantum Quest at Skywalker Sound earlier this month.

Also on the panel is film composer Austin Wintory whose latest project Knuckle Draggers is featured at the Newport Beach Film Festival. Wintory also worked on the psychological thriller Grace, which is currently on the festival circuit after winning the Jury Prize at France’s prestigious Gerardmer International Fantasy Film Festival in early February. Wintory was at Sundance for the premiere of Grace; his film last year, Captain Abu Raed, won the Audience Award at Sundance and received critical acclaim for the score. At 26 years old, Wintory has been BAFTA nominated and last year was presented with an award for “Best New Film Composer.”