Finalists for the Atlantic Film Festival’s Emerging Composer-Director Mentorship Program Announced

The Atlantic Film Festival Association, Symphony Nova Scotia, and the Guild of Canadian Film Composers recently announced the participants of the second annual mentorship program for emerging film composers and directors.

Composers Lukas Pearse, Craig Dodge, Catherine Wilson and Dinuk Wijeratne were selected as finalists along with directors Jason Levangie, Christian MacDonald, Eva Madden-Hagen and Megan Wennberg.

During the 30th Atlantic Film Festival in September 2010, these four composers and four film directors will be paired up and given the opportunity to collaborate on the composition of an original score for a three-minute film cue with the participation of Symphony Nova Scotia.

“It was natural, after the success of last year’s events, that we would bring this program back,” said Andrea Thomas, Director of Operation at the AFFA.

“The Guild of Canadian Composers and Symphony Nova Scotia are two exceptional partners who have worked very hard to help this event quickly become a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and we’re very pleased to be working with them again.”

Collaborating composers and directors will work with mentorship from established film composers, orchestrators, and recording engineer Hayward Parrott from St. Cecilia Studios. Each team will be given approximately 30 minutes with the orchestra to record their cue in a fully produced recording session at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium. This session will be open to the public.

The finished pieces will be presented at a screening during the 30th Atlantic Film Festival in Halifax, NS.

About Symphony Nova Scotia
Symphony Nova Scotia is Nova Scotia’s orchestra. Each year more than 50,000 audience members (including 16,000 young music lovers) join us in communities across Nova Scotia for performances of the music they love – from baroque and classical to pop and rock and folk. Under the inspirational leadership of Music Director Bernhard Gueller, Symphony Nova Scotia is recognized as one of the finest orchestras in the country. Visit www.SymphonyNovaScotia.ca to learn more, listen online, or subscribe today!

About the 30th Atlantic Film Festival
The 30th Atlantic Film Festival takes place September 16-25, 2010 in Halifax, Nova Scotia and is a celebration of three decades of film, television and multimedia in the Atlantic Region. Further programming information will be available in the coming months.
Organizers acknowledge the continued support provided for The Atlantic Film Festival by the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA)/ Agence de promotion économique du Canada atlantique (APECA). The Atlantic Film Festival also gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the Hansen-MacDonald Family. 

About the Guild of Canadian Film Composers
The Guild of Canadian Film Composers is a national association of professional composers and music producers for film, television and new media, whose purpose is to further the interests of its members in liaison with Canada’s cultural industries and agencies, media producers and music publishers, educational institutions and the public.