SoundTrack_Cologne 16 awards European Talent Award, Peer Raben Music Award, SEE THE SOUND Award for Best Music Documentary and Lifetime Achievement Award

SoundTrack_Cologne 16 • 28^th of August to 1^st of September 2019

The juries of SoundTrack_Cologne 16 have made their decisions. Leon Maximilian Brückner won the WDR Film Score Award, Paul Clímaco Müller Reyes was awarded with the Prize for the best sound design. Julien Bellagner received an Honorary Mention. Mateo Ojeda won the Peer Raben Music Award with 'Pantaleón'. Dascha Dauenhauer received an Honorary Mention. The SEE THE SOUND Award for Best Music Documentary went to 'BNK48: Girls Don’t Cry' by Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit. The jury also praised 'Kate Nash: Underestimate the Girl' by Amy Goldstein and 'The Sound is Innocent' by Johana Ožvold. Both received a special mention.

During the award ceremony composer Klaus Doldinger (Tatort, Das Boot, The Neverending Story) received the Lifetime Achievement Award of SoundTrack_Cologne.

Composer and SoundTrack_Cologne Lifetime Achievement Awardee (2010) Christian Bruhn held the laudatio.
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The winner of the European Talent Competition is Leon Maximilian Brückner, Paul Clímaco Müller Reyes was awarded with the Prize for the best sound design. Julien Bellanger received an Honorable Mention.

Since its very beginning the European Talent Award is a central event of SoundTrack_Cologne. The work of all competition participants, who created a new world of music and sound for a muted short film, show how differently a soundtrack can tell a film.

The members of the jury were conductor Enrico Delamboye, music supervisor Catherine Grieves, Josef Steinbüchel (Torus GmbH), producer Erik Winker und composer Iva Zabkar.

Leon Maximilian Brückner wins a one-day recording session of one of his own compositions with the WDR Funkhausorchester.

The prize for the best sound design is a 5.1 cinematic mix down in the prestigious sound-mixing studio Chaussee Soundvision in Germany.

The jury statement for their collaboration:

'Leon Brückner’s score served the different settings of the film excellently. Through good use of silence, the music flexibly switched through the different filmic realms and was capped-off with a nice French twist. The placements and scoring of the music were well-designed and served the film’s humour very well.'

'Paul Clímaco Muller Reyes crafted a detailed and complete sound design to the film. It created a compelling ambience that lets the audience sense the film’s outer worlds. It also enhanced and brought the story forwards with subtle and polished extra sounds. In particular, the jury appreciated the final car sound which gave the storyline an additional twist.'

An Honorary Mention went to Julien Bellanger. The jury states:

'The jury loved the retro mood of Julien Bellanger’s score, which reminded them of a classic film noir. The music excelled with its effective and well-placed cueing, good implementation of tempo and tonal matching to the images in the film. It was a cohesive and stylish work!'
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The Peer Raben Music Award goes to Mateo Ojeda for his music for the film 'Pantaleón', (D: Diana Ojeda).

The members of the jury were media artist Tessa Knapp, composer Franziska Pohlmann and film comoposer and CAN founder Irmin Schmidt.

'The winning composition receives the award for its courage, its humour and its artistic sovereignty. It is courageous in its reduced use of music, and humorous in its adaption of historical references.

For example, the jury was convinced by the integration of percussion in the sound layer and by a guitar that was played in a deliberately amateuric way. In this score, the music serves as a psychological interpretation of the protagonist and his musical point of view.'

The Jury awarded Dascha Dauenhauer with an Honorary Mention for her contribution 'Love Me, Fear Me' (D: Veronica Solomon). The jury states:

'(Dascha Dauenhauer) is a composer full of virtuosity for whom the jury can already see a successful path. With her approach to both breaking the genres as well as musically serving the scenes, the jury wishes her a lot of success in the continuation of this convincing journey.'

The award for the best music in a short film is endowed with 1.500 Euro and remembers composer Peer Raben (1940-2007) who was best known for his work for the films of Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
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The SEE THE SOUND Award for Best Music Documentary 2018 goes to 'BNK48: Girls Don’t Cry' by Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit. The film follows a group of young girls through a laborious selection process as they hope to get a spot in the newly founded idol group BNK48, sistergroup to Japan’s AKB48.

The jury consisted of journalist and curator Kaja Klimek, director Afsaneh Salari and journalist Uwe Mies. The prize is endowed with 2.500 Euro.

To quote the jury:

'A no-nonsense insight into Thai-idolband phenomenon in the wake of Japanese Manga-Girlgroups.

The concept by presenting about a dozen juvenile female protagonists, who talk about their feelings, fears and ambitions during the experience of being chosen to take place in the Group turns out to be a sharp-minded approach to the subject matter of hopes and dreams and what will be left when truth turns out to be the usual Let's-Make-Money-Monster. According to this the director managed to use his story telling skills to address some of the current human obsessions and still to prevent the decency not to exploit the feelings the girls show in front of the camera. The piano/guitar sounds by Tongta & Pokpong Jitdee added to an atmosphere that never allows a false moment. And so, the interviews come across naturally, dig into both powers and vulnerabilities, and eventually the film succeeds in creating strong emotional bonds with the audience. It is a very powerful encounter with the world of girls' hopes and dreams.'

The jury also praised 'Kate Nash: Underestimate the Girl' by Amy Goldstein and 'The Sound is Innocent' by Johana Ožvold. Both received a special mention.

To quote the jury about 'Kate Nash: Underestimate the Girl':

'British singer/songwriter girlie Kate Nash rose to fame about ten years ago, until she had to face the ups and downs of showbiz where ambitions can kill almost every career.

There are happy times when you realize you are watching a good movie. Now, what is a good documentary movie, or in this case - a good rockumentary? That is when the term authenticity comes in, or even better - truthfulness. And that's what made Kate Nash: Underestimate the Girl so different from many other movies about rock or pop personalities: In this particular case, every single moment rang true. Thanks to a sharp directing and a passionate star with a particular sense for ironic self-reflection, this rock-biopic unfolds a wide range of characterisation and insight into Nashs way to see herself as an artist, a partner in music and as a modern woman. A clever use of smartphone material adds to what turns out to be a state-of-the-art rock biography with one distinctive difference to similar great works about stars such as Amy Winehouse, Janis Joplin or Whitney Houston: Kate Nash is alive and well and living in London and Los Angeles. At the same time it gives the viewer and insight into the mechanics of music business and the changes it is undergoing. The individual and more general story tells us: don't underestimate strong-willed women!'

To quote the Jury about 'The Sound is Innocent':

'About once or twice in a year you see a movie and don't know what to expect from it. Much too often, curiosity ends in an artistic pithole. But then, all of a sudden, there is a movie that turns out to be what you hoped for most - a journey into the unexpectable. 

In its own words, something that started as an accident influenced a whole period of music. Even without going back to the days of Adam and Eve in paradise, the origins and developments of experimental electronic music unfold in the key question about how we can pin-point the moment when sound becomes music. The thought-provoking ideas behind this movie unfold in a rollercoaster ride of wildly innovative visual concepts ranging from Jan Svankmajer to the music videos of Kevin Godley & Lol Creme up to modern wunder-visualists like Michel Gondry or Duncan Jones. Or in other words: The ultimate litmus test for those who prefer form over content and still appreciate to be treated as thinking persons.'