The SGAE Foundation and the San Sebastián Festival announce the new SGAE Award for Best Original Music going to the score of one of the 17 competing films included in the Festival’s Official Selection. The accolade, to join the San Sebastián Festival’s Other Official Awards, will be decided by a jury made up of three acclaimed professionals in the field of music creation. 

This award further enhances the close relationship existing between the Festival and the SGAE for more than a decade, recognising “the excellence of the original music composition and its artistic contribution to the cinematographic work as a whole”. The award will be presented at the Festival’s closing gala and will recognise the field of film music composition for the first time.

Open to all of the films competing in the Official Selection, the contenders for the SGAE Award are the following composers:

1. Clara Aguilar — 5 minutos más / 5 Minutes More (Javier Ruiz Caldera, Spain)
2. Sevket Akıncı — Artakalam / What Remains (Yeşim Ustaoğlu, Turkey-France-Luxemburg-Bulgaria)
3. Min Bai and Wenqi Qiao — Biang jing / Border (Ah Biao, Hong Kong-USA-South Korea)
4. Amine Bouhafa — 7h40 ce matin-là / Milo (Nicole Garcia, France)
5. Lorenz Dangel — Krux (Tony Vahl, Germany-Poland)
6. Francisco “Francis” Durán y Mauricio “Mauri” Durán — Mis muertos tristes / My Sad Dead (Pablo Larraín, Argentina-Chile)
7. Mamiko Hirai — Muyou no hito / In My Father’s Room (Maha Harada, Japan)
8. Christophe Julien — Les Misérables (Fred Cavayé, France)
9. Kaspar Kaae — Markens grøde / Growth of the Soil (Hans Petter Moland, Norway-Denmark-Germany)
10. Rebekka Karijord and Kristian Eidnes Andersen — Garrat du váimmu / Brace Your Heart (Amanda Kernell, Sweden-Norway-Denmark-Iceland-Bulgaria)
11. Malakoff Kowalski — Geister / Ghost Song (Fatih Akin, Germany)
12. Valentina Magaletti — Sants / Saints (Mikel Gurrea, Spain-Italy)
13. Emilie Mosseri and Jesse Eisenberg — The Debut (Jesse Eisenberg, USA)
14. Raquel Sánchez — El mal padre (Roberto Bueso, Spain)
15. Tiganá Santana — Vicentina pede desculpas / On Behalf of My Son (Gabriel Martins, Brazil)
16. Shigeru Umebayashi — Glaxo (Benjamín Naishtat, Brazil-Argentina)
17. Gary Yershon — Tender Loving Care (Mike Leigh, UK)

An international jury expressly constituted for the occasion and made up of three people of recognised standing in the field of music creation, audiovisual composition, film or culture in general, designated by mutual agreement between the San Sebastián Festival and the SGAE Foundation, will have the task of deciding the award.

The SGAE at the San Sebastián Festival

The SGAE Foundation maintains a close relationship of collaboration and support with the San Sebastián Festival. Over three decades, the foundation of the Spanish Society of Authors and Publishers has focused its participation both on the Festival’s initiatives and on organising its own events and issuing its own calls for submissions, which the Festival has always generously hosted.  

The SGAE Award for Best Original Music completes a series of activities promoted by the SGAE Foundation at the San Sebastián Festival, such as the

Concert & Screening, a recital of sound tracks organised in collaboration with the Euskadiko Orkestra; the non-competitive showcase for national films Made in Spain (whose programme will also show in a sister season at the Sala Berlanga in Madrid) and the GIDOI-SGAE Award for the Best Basque Production given by the Professional Association of Screenwriters of the Basque Country.

In addition, the SGAE Foundation has fostered professional meetings, round tables, presentations and, especially, awards going to the screenwriters’ collective such as the SGAE Julio Alejandro Screenplay Award for a full-length feature film and, more recently, turning its attention to the gender equality perspective of the media, the Dunia Ayaso Award.