Storytelling, Amplified: Sundance Institute and Skywalker Sound Announce Composers, Directors for 2017 Music and Sound Design Labs

Music and Sound Design Lab 2016

Credit Brandon Joseph Baker

Music and Sound Design Lab 2014

Credit Steve Jennings

Music and Sound Design Lab 2016

Credit Brandon Joseph Baker

Los Angeles and Marin, CA - Sundance Institute and Skywalker Sound today announced the composers and directors selected for the Sundance Institute Music and Sound Design Labs, which return to the legendary Skywalker Sound Facilities for the fifth year.

At the Labs, composers, directors and sound designers will collaborate to develop music and sound for documentary and narrative film projects. Workshops and creative exercises, guided by leading film composers and sound designers acting as Creative Advisors, will mentor Fellows to explore sound and music's crucial role in storytelling. As part of each Lab, a live chamber orchestra will perform each composer/director team's original scores. The Music and Sound Design Lab for narrative feature films (July 7-20) is a joint initiative of the Institute's Film Music Program and Feature Film Program. All of the selected feature film directors are currently working on their features in post-production and have been supported by the Feature Film Program at different stages throughout the development of their film. The Music and Sound Design Lab for documentaries (July 22-30) is a joint initiative of the Film Music Program and Documentary Film Program.

Music is a fundamental element of storytelling and this year's composers have distinct musical personalities that will capture a filmmaker's vision and help their story come to life, said Peter Golub, Director of the Sundance Institute Film Music Program. Skywalker Sound continues to serve as an inspiring and creative space for composers, filmmakers and sound designers to come together and we are so grateful to call it home for the fifth year in a row.

"Peter and the Sundance team are like family, were delighted to have them back again this year for the Labs," said Josh Lowden, VP and General Manager of Skywalker Sound. "What weve tried to cultivate here is a kind of artists colony, where creatives from different disciplines can escape the day to day grind and come to work together. Our goal is to cultivate new relationships between directors, composers and sound designers and encourage collaboration that starts earlier and goes deeper. We hope that together we can continue to break down barriers and push the boundaries of creative storytelling."

Creative Advisors this year include: composers Christophe Beck, Todd Boekelheide, George S. Clinton, Miriam Cutler, James Newton Howard, Laura Karpman, Thomas Newman, Rob Simonsen and Harry Gregson-Williams; Skywalker Sound designers Dennis Leonard, Bob Edwards, Pete Horner, Malcolm Fife, Bonnie Wild and David Accord; music editor Adam Smalley; directors Miguel Arteta and Robb Moss; editor Toby Shimin; writer and film historian Jon Burlingame; and Vice President Film, TV & Visual Media Relations at BMI, Doreen Ringer-Ross.

Artists and narrative projects selected for the 2017 Sundance Institute Music and Sound Design Lab: Feature Film (July 7-20) are:

Composers:

Bijan Olia is a Los Angeles-based composer who has written music for feature films, television, advertisements and the concert hall. In 2017, Bijan composed additional music for Warner Brothers' Lego DC Superheroes: A Case of the Mondays, the documentary feature Served Like A Girl and the virtual reality video game Resident Evil VII Biohazard. He is currently assisting composer Michael A. Levine as an additional composer and music editor.

Jackson Greenberg is a Los Angeles-based composer. He has written original scores for film and television including the Emmy-winning and Academy Award-nominated film Cartel Land.

Cindy O'Connor began her career as a musical theater composer with All That He Was, is the winner of the Kennedy Center/ACTF Musical Theater Award and is published by Samuel French. She has written scores and songs for a wide variety of film, TV, and theater projects including the films Forgiving the Franklins, Not Forgotten and two seasons of the Starz series Crash. She is currently collaborating with Mark Isham on the ABC series Once Upon a Time.

Camilla Uboldi is an Italian-born, Mexico City-based music composer and animator who has written music for theater, film, animation and TV series. Uboldi has assisted LA composer Laura Karpman on Black Nativity and The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden. She's one of eight selected composers for the young artist program of the 2017 Mexican Cultural Ministry. Uboldi is currently composing an orchestral piece for the Vatican Stradivarius cello for the presentation by its new owners in Mexico and was invited by composers Andres Sanchez Maher and Gus Reyes to write music for the documentary El Paso de la Tortuga.

Sergei Stern is a film composer with a huge love for arts and music and a deep, classical education, received from three different countries, each with its own rich history and culture. With each film he is scoring, Sergei tries to build a unique sound palette that would serve the story and impact the audience on emotional, intellectual and sometimes even physical levels.

Jesi Nelson is a Los Angeles-based composer, raised in Wisconsin, whose music can be heard in a variety of television and film. After receiving her Masters from Columbia College Chicago, she interned for Danny Elfman and soon after started assisting composer Michael Kramer. She has since written additional music for his shows such as the Emmy-nominated Lego Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures, Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu and other films such as Saving Brinton.

Directors:

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LINK:	http://www.sundance.org/blogs/news/music-and-sound-design-labs-2017...
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