The challenge for participants of the 13th FMF Young Talent Award will be to compose music for the film I Am: Celine Dion. This international competition is an opportunity for young composers to gain recognition among experts and the general public. The winning composition will be performed live in May during the 18th Krakow Film Music Festival.
The Krakow Film Music Festival is one of the world’s most important film music festivals. It has hosted many of the greatest composers of our era, including Oscar winners: Volker Bertelmann, Alexandre Desplat, Jan A.P. Kaczmarek, Steven Price, Howard Shore, and Hans Zimmer. A permanent part of the festival is the FMF Young Talent Award – a competition that promotes young talented composers. Its previous editions attracted more than 700 participants from a few dozen countries, and winners are successfully active on the international arena.
The task to be faced by participants in the 13th edition of the competition is to compose their own music to an excerpt from I Am: Celine Dion – a film directed by Irene Taylor. This high-profile 2024 documentary provides an insight into the private and professional life of the Canadian singer, songwriter and composer who struggles with a serious condition: Stiff Person Syndrome (SPS). The original soundtrack, which evocatively illustrates the film story, was composed by acclaimed cellist Redi Hasa.
Celine Dion is undoubtedly one of the most recognisable music stars of her generation. Since her debut in 1981, she has sold more than 250 million albums worldwide. A significant part of Dion's artistic output are film songs, two of which won Academy Awards: the lead track from Beauty and the Beast (1991) and My Heart Will Go On from Titanic (1997). In 2022, health problems forced the artist to give up touring and focus on her treatment. ‘This last couple of years has been such a challenge for me, the journey from discovering my condition to learning how to live with and manage it, but not to let it define me,’ Dion stresses. She chose to record a part of her daily life in order to raise public awareness of SPS and help other people who received the same diagnosis.
‘The FMF Young Talent Award competition is our investment in the future, because young people prove their incredible creativity there. We are proud to see the career development of the laureates of previous editions, who return to the FMF as established artists,’ says Marta Nawrocka, manager of the Krakow Film Music Festival. ‘Composers taking part in the competition face a complex task. First and foremost, they should focus on the film image and ask themselves what kind of message I Am: Celine Dion carries. When composing, they have to search for their own musical language, although it is certainly hard to resist the temptation to be inspired by Redi Hasa’s excellent soundtrack. I am convinced that the results of these creative processes will surprise us as usual,’ adds Nawrocka.
The participants’ works will be assessed by an international jury consisting of composers, performers and other persons connected with the film score industry. The sessions of the jury will be chaired by Miriam Cutler – an Emmy-nominated composer specialising in documentaries, producer, educator and co-founder of The Alliance for Women Film Composers.
The jury will select laureates of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. The winner will receive a FMF Young Talent Award statuette and an opportunity to perform his/her composition live during the 18th Krakow Film Music Festival in May 2025. The main award will also include a Bettermaker Stereo Passive Equalizer mastering device worth USD 2,000, donated by competition partner Bettermaker, a brand that creates high-end studio equipment for engineers and music producers.
Apart from that, twelve authors of the best works will take part in a prestigious workshop for young composers that will be conducted by specialists from the film score industry in the Krzysztof Penderecki European Centre for Music in Lusławice. The participants of the workshop will have an opportunity to record their compositions during a professional recording session. In addition, each finalist of FMF Young Talent Award will receive a set of professional plug-ins worth USD 1,075 from the Bettermaker brand.
The competition is open to persons aged between 18 and 35 years. Applications will be accepted by 2nd March 2025. The composition for the competition must be presented by 6th March 2025. The winners will be announced on 24th April 2025.
The organisers of the Krakow Film Music Festival are: the City of Krakow, the Krakow Festival Office and RMF Classic. The programme for the event will be announced soon.
How to take part in the competition?
General rules:
– The competition is addressed to persons aged between 18 and 35 years (born after 31st December 1989) who are of legal age at the time of submitting the application.
– Each participant may submit only one application.
– Winners of previous editions and finalists of FMF Young Talent Award 2024 are not allowed to participate.
Step-by-step application process
1. Fill in the application form available HERE.
2. After your application has been positively verified, you will receive:
– the web address from which you can download an excerpt from the film for the purposes of your task;
– the line-up of the orchestra;
– the link to the disk onto which you must upload your work;
– your inidual application number.
3. Mark your composition with the application number you received.
4. Upload your work with the same name as the application number in ZIP or RAR format (e.g., 123.zip) onto the disk. The application should include two files:
– a score in PDF format (123.pdf);
– an audio-video file in MP4 or QuickTime format (123.mp4, 123.mov or 123.m4v).
5. You will be notified about the acceptance/rejection of your application by e-mail sent to the address stated in the application form.
The rules of the FMF Young Talent Award competition and criteria of assessment of works are available HERE.
FAQ - HERE
Source: press release
Photo by Robert Słuszniak
