International Film Music Critics Association Awards Nominations 2023

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The International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) today announced the nominees for the 20th annual IFMCA Awards, for excellence in musical scoring in 2023. Composers John Williams and Christopher Young lead the list of composer nominees with four nominations each, closely followed by Lorne Balfe, Stephen Barton, Ludwig Göransson, and Bear McCreary, who each have three. Genre productions are represented not only in dedicated sff-themed categories but throughout the array of finalists.

John Williams’s nominations are all for his work on Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, the fifth film in the action-adventure series starring Harrison Ford as the globetrotting archaeologist. Dial of Destiny received nominations for Score of the Year, Best Action/Adventure score, and Composition of the Year for the score’s main theme, “Helena’s Theme,” while Williams himself was nominated for Composer of the Year.

Like Williams, American composer Young’s nominations are all for his work on one film: the stylish horror The Piper, directed by Erlingur Óttar Thoroddsen and starring Charlotte Hope and the late Julian Sands. The score is nominated for Score of the Year, Best Horror/Thriller Score, and Composition of the Year for the second movement of the score’s pivotal “Concerto for Flute and Orchestra,” and Young is nominated for Composer of the Year.

The other nominees for Score of the Year are The Boy and the Heron by Japanese composer Joe Hisaishi, Godzilla Minus One by Japanese composer Naoki Sato, and Oppenheimer by Swedish composer Ludwig Göransson. 

The other nominees for Composer of the Year are Scottish composer Lorne Balfe, and Americans Laura Karpman and Bear McCreary. Balfe’s enormously varied work in 2023 included the latest installment of the hit Tom Cruise spy thriller series Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part One (nominated in the Action/Adventure category), the groundbreaking Netflix nature documentary series Life on Our Planet (nominated in the Documentary category), the irreverent fantasy adventure based on the classic role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves, the motor racing drama Gran Turismo, and the period drama Tetris, which reveals the incredible story behind the creation of the classic block-stacking computer game.

Karpman received acclaim for her outstanding work on two very different films in 2023: the authentic jazz she wrote for the satirical literary-themed comedy American Fiction (nominated in the Comedy category), and the bold and exciting action score she wrote for the super-hero fantasy sequel The Marvels. Similarly, the ever-busy McCreary wrote excellent music across all genres, encompassing film, television, and video games, and his most lauded works included the comedy-horror We Have a Ghost, the vampire horror The Last Voyage of the Demeter (nominated in the Horror/Thriller category), the latest seasons of TV series such as Foundation, Outlander, and Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and two impressive game scores for God of War: Ragnarök – Valhalla (nominated in the Video Game category) and Forspoken.

The other composer with three nominations in 2023 is Englishman Stephen Barton, who along with Frederik Weidmann co-wrote a spectacular homage to classic Star Trek music for the third season of the Paramount+ TV series Star Trek: Picard, and then along with Gordy Haab co-wrote a spectacular homage to classic Star Wars music for the video game Star Wars: Jedi – Survivor. In addition to their nominations in their respective genre categories, the “Leaving Spacedock” cue from Star Trek: Picard is also nominated for Composition of the Year.

The International Film Music Critics Association will announce the winners of the 20th IFMCA Awards live on the IFMCA YouTube channel on February 22, 2024.

The complete list of nominees follows the jump.

The nominees are:

SCORE OF THE YEAR

COMPOSER OF THE YEAR

  • LORNE BALFE
  • LAURA KARPMAN
  • BEAR MCCREARY
  • JOHN WILLIAMS
  • CHRISTOPHER YOUNG

BREAKTHROUGH COMPOSER OF THE YEAR

  • SHERRI CHUNG
  • PAWEŁ LUCEWICZ
  • MICHAEL “MIKA” PENNIMAN JR.
  • ŁUKASZ “L.U.C” ROSTKOWSKI
  • COREY WALLACE

COMPOSITION OF THE YEAR

  • “Can You Hear the Music?” from OPPENHEIMER, music by Ludwig Göransson
  • “Concerto for Flute and Orchestra, Movement 2” from THE PIPER, music by Christopher Young
  • “Found” from LA SOCIEDAD DE LA NIEVE/SOCIETY OF THE SNOW, music by Michael Giacchino
  • “Helena’s Theme” from INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY, music by John Williams
  • “Leaving Spacedock” from STAR TREK: PICARD, music by Stephen Barton and Frederik Wiedmann

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A DRAMA FILM

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A COMEDY FILM

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR AN ACTION/ADVENTURE FILM

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A FANTASY/SCIENCE FICTION FILM

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A HORROR/THRILLER FILM

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR AN ANIMATED FILM

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A DOCUMENTARY

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR TELEVISION

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A VIDEO GAME OR INTERACTIVE MEDIA

BEST ARCHIVAL RELEASE

  • CHAPLIN, music by John Barry; album produced by Neil S. Bulk, liner notes by Jon Burlingame, album art direction by Scott Saslow (La-La Land)
  • HEIDI/JANE EYRE, music by John Williams; album produced by Mike Matessino, liner notes by John Takis and Mike Matessino, album art direction by Jim Titus (Quartet)
  • HOOK, music by John Williams; album produced by Mike Matessino, liner notes by Mike Matessino, John Takis, and Jason LeBlanc, album art direction by Jim Titus (La-La Land)
  • LAURENCE ROSENTHAL: MUSIC FOR FILM AND TELEVISION, music by Laurence Rosenthal; the Brussels Philharmonic conducted by Dirk Brossé, album produced by Thomas Van Parys/Film Fest Gent, liner notes by Laurence Rosenthal, Robert Townson, and Thomas Van Parys, album art direction by Stuart Ford (Silva Screen/Film Fest Gent)
  • MACARTHUR, music by Jerry Goldsmith; album produced by Douglass Fake, liner notes by Jeff Bond and Douglass Fake, album art direction by Kay Marshall (Intrada)
  • THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH/ON DANGEROUS GROUND, music by Bernard Herrmann; the Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted by William Stromberg, album produced by Douglass Fake, liner notes by Steven Smith, album art direction by Stephane Coedel and Kay Marshall (Intrada)
  • NIGHT AFTER NIGHT, music by James Newton Howard; orchestra conducted by Gavin Greenaway, featured performers Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Hilary Hahn, and Maya Beiser, album produced by Michael Dean Parsons, liner notes by James Newton Howard and M. Night Shyamalan, album art direction nominee to be confirmed (Sony Classical)
  • THE ROCK, music by Nick Glennie-Smith, Hans Zimmer, and Harry Gregson-Williams; album produced by Stéphane Humez, liner notes by Kaya Savas, album art direction by Kay Marshall (Intrada)
  • SÉANCE ON A WET AFTERNOON/KATHERINE HEPBURN, music by John Barry; Orquesta de Córdoba conducted by Fernando Velázquez, album produced by Jose M. Benitez and Leigh Phillips, liner notes by Jon Burlingame, album art direction by Nacho B. Govantes and Jim Titus (Quartet)
  • A SYMPHONIC CELEBRATION: MUSIC FROM THE STUDIO GHIBLI FILMS OF HAYAO MIYAZAKI, music by Joe Hisaishi; the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Joe Hisaishi, album produced by Joe Hisaishi and Anna Barry, liner notes by Michael Beek, album art direction by Yuka Araki (Deutsche Grammophon)

FILM MUSIC RECORD LABEL OF THE YEAR

  • INTRADA RECORDS, Douglass Fake, Roger Feigelson
  • LA-LA LAND RECORDS, MV Gerhard, Matt Verboys
  • MOVIESCORE MEDIA, Mikael Carlsson
  • MUSIC BOX RECORDS, Cyril Durand-Roger, Laurent Lafarge
  • QUARTET RECORDS, Jose M. Benitez

[Based on a press release.]

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