Inaugural Samobor Film Music Festival set for next September

The inaugural International Samobor Film Music Festival (ISFMF) will run Sept 11-14, 2013 in Samobor, Croatia.

Aimed at the promotion and preservation of film music, the festival also aims to expand awareness of the importance of original music in film. Alongside films screening, the ISFMF will host workshops about film music, panels, orchestra concerts and a jazz programme.

Filmmakers and composers are invited to apply their film music by the end of February 2013 for submission into the inaugural edition to compete for a Crystal Pine Award, which will be juried by respected filmmakers and composers. The five categories will be feature film (drama), feature film (comedy/musical), animated feature, documentary feature and short film.

Other awards handed out at the festival include the Special Crystal Pine Award for authors who have composed the best music for the world’s best-known movies in the past year, the Green Pine Award for best local young/new composer and the Golden Pine Award for lifetime achievement.

Three-time Oscar winning sound designer and editor Richard King is the most recent addition to the festival’s artistic board, which also includes Belgian director Jaco Van Dormael, Croatian recording artist, composer and performer Nenad Bach and British/South-African director Mark Dornford-May. More members are expected to be announced before the inaugural edition.

The founding board of the festival are artistic director and producer Ozren K. Glaser (who is also on the artistic board) and executive director and producer Tena Glaser, who commented: “Making audience and film professionals notice, understand and appreciate film music more would make our mission of the festival almost complete. The rest is on the good weather and, of course, some fun.”

For more information, visit the festival’s website.