Hans Zimmer, Daniel Pemberton top International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) nominations

The International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) announces its list of nominees for excellence in musical scoring in 2020, for the 17th annual IFMCA Awards. British composer Daniel Pemberton and German composer Hans Zimmer lead the field with the most number of nominations, each receiving a total of five.

Zimmer’s five nominations were all for his work on one film, Wonder Woman 1984, the blockbuster sequel to the 2017 DC superhero film directed by Patty Jenkins, and starring Gal Gadot and Chris Pine. The score is nominated for Score of the Year and in its Fantasy/Sci-Fi/Horror genre, Zimmer is nominated for Composer of the Year, and two of Zimmer’s individual cues – “1984” and “Themyscira” – are nominated for Film Music Composition of the Year. IFMCA member Jon Broxton praised the score’s “upbeat attitude, its buoyant sense of fun and optimism, and the unashamed, un-ironic sincerity of its emotional content,” and said that “the depth and complexity of Zimmer’s thematic ideas makes the score satisfying from an intellectual point of view, meaning that the whole thing succeeds on every count.”

Pemberton’s nominations were for his work on three films: the literary adventure Enola Holmes, based on the popular young adult novels by Nancy Springer about the younger sister of the legendary sleuth Sherlock; the political drama The Trial of the Chicago 7, which looks at the real-life trial of a group of anti–Vietnam War protesters charged with inciting riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention; and “Rising Phoenix,” an acclaimed documentary following the stories of nine Paralympic athletes. Enola Holmes is nominated for Score of the Year, and Pemberton is nominated for Composer of the Year. IFMCA member James Southall called Enola Holmes “a great orchestral adventure romp, whose quirks only add to its great sense of fun … conventional by recent Pemberton standards but still features a number of quirks and it feels so continually fresh and energetic … one of the year’s strongest scores.”

The International Film Music Critics Association will announce the winners of the 17th IFMCA Awards on February 18, 2021.

Here is the full list of nominations.

FILM SCORE OF THE YEAR

• THE CALL OF THE WILD, music by John Powell
• ENOLA HOLMES, music by Daniel Pemberton
• FUKUSHIMA 50, music by Tarō Iwashiro
• THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD, music by Christopher Willis
• WONDER WOMAN 1984, music by Hans Zimmer

FILM COMPOSER OF THE YEAR

• FEDERICO JUSID
• BEAR MCCREARY
• DANIEL PEMBERTON
• CHRISTOPHER WILLIS
• HANS ZIMMER

BREAKTHROUGH COMPOSER OF THE YEAR

• ALEX BARANOWSKI
• THOMAS CLAY
• PHILIP KLEIN
• NAMI MELUMAD
• ISOBEL WALLER-BRIDGE AND DAVID SCHWEITZER

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A DRAMA FILM

• DA 5 BLOODS, music by Terence Blanchard
• FANNY LYE DELIVER’D, music by Thomas Clay
• FUKUSHIMA 50, music by Tarō Iwashiro
• NEWS OF THE WORLD, music by James Newton Howard
• THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7, music by Daniel Pemberton

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A COMEDY FILM

• AN AMERICAN PICKLE, music by Michael Giacchino and Nami Melumad
• EMMA, music by Isobel Waller-Bridge and David Schweitzer
• GODMOTHERED, music by Rachel Portman
• THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD, music by Christopher Willis
• WILD MOUNTAIN THYME, music by Amelia Warner

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR AN ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLER FILM

• THE CALL OF THE WILD, music by John Powell
• ENOLA HOLMES, music by Daniel Pemberton
• MULAN, music by Harry Gregson-Williams
• ORÍGENES SECRETOS [UNKNOWN ORIGINS], music by Federico Jusid
• TENET, music by Ludwig Göransson

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A FANTASY/SCIENCE FICTION/HORROR FILM

• THE INVISIBLE MAN, music by Benjamin Wallfisch
• THE MIDNIGHT SKY, music by Alexandre Desplat
• WENDY, music by Dan Romer and Benh Zeitlin
• THE WITCHES, music by Alan Silvestri
• WONDER WOMAN 1984, music by Hans Zimmer

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR AN ANIMATED FEATURE

• ANIMAL CRACKERS, music by Bear McCreary
• FEARLESS, music by Anne-Kathrin Dern
• ONWARD, music by Mychael Danna and Jeff Danna
• SOUL, music by Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, and Jon Batiste
• WOLFWALKERS, music by Bruno Coulais

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A DOCUMENTARY

• DAVID ATTENBOROUGH: A LIFE ON OUR PLANET, music by Steven Price
• ELEPHANT, music by Ramin Djawadi
• HARBOR FROM THE HOLOCAUST, music by Chad Cannon
• RISING PHOENIX, music by Daniel Pemberton
• SADAN HANIM, music by George Kallis

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR TELEVISION

• DRACULA, music by David Arnold and Michael Price
• HIS DARK MATERIALS, music by Lorne Balfe
• LOVECRAFT COUNTRY, music by Laura Karpman and Raphael Saadiq
• THE MANDALORIAN, music by Ludwig Göransson
• THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT, music by Carlos Rafael Rivera

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A VIDEO GAME OR INTERACTIVE MEDIA

• GHOST OF TSUSHIMA, music by Ilan Eshkeri and Shigeru Umebayashi
• MEDAL OF HONOR: ABOVE AND BEYOND, music by Michael Giacchino and Nami Melumad
• ORI AND THE WILL OF THE WISPS, music by Gareth Coker
• THE PATHLESS, music by Austin Wintory
• STAR WARS: SQUADRONS, music by Gordy Haab

BEST NEW ARCHIVAL RELEASE – RE-RELEASE OR RE-RECORDING

• ENDLESS NIGHT, music by Bernard Herrmann; the Basque National Orchestra, conducted by Fernando Velázquez; album produced by Edouard Dubois and José M. Benitez; liner notes by Frank K. DeWald; album art direction by Nacho B. Govantes (Quartet)
• THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY, music by Ennio Morricone; album produced by Chris Malone and José M. Benitez; liner notes by Chris Malone and Tim Greiving; album art direction by Nacho B. Govantes (Quartet)
• HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, music by John Powell; album produced by John Powell, Batu Sener, Bryon Davis, and Cary E. Mansfield; liner notes by Tim Greiving; album art direction by Bill Pitzonka (Varèse Sarabande/5 Cat Studios)
• KING OF KINGS, music by Miklós Rózsa; the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by Nic Raine; album produced by James Fitzpatick; liner notes by Frank K. DeWald and James Fitzpatrick; album art direction by Nic Finch and Gareth Bevan (Tadlow Music)
• ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES, music by Michael Kamen; album produced by Douglass Fake and Roger Feigelson; liner notes by Frank K. DeWald; album art direction by Kay Marshall (Intrada)

BEST NEW ARCHIVAL RELEASE – COMPILATION

• FRANZ WAXMAN: THE DOCUMENTARIES, music by Franz Waxman; album produced by Ford A. Thaxton and James Nelson; liner notes by Jon Burlingame; album art direction by Mark Banning (Dragon’s Domain)
• JOHN WILLIAMS IN VIENNA, music by John Williams; the Wiener Philharmoniker and Anne-Sophie Mutter, conducted by John Williams; album produced by Bernhard Güttler; liner notes by Otta Biba; album art direction by Büro Dirk Rudolph (Deutsche Grammophon)
• MORRICONE SEGRETO, music by Ennio Morricone; album produced by Pierpaolo De Sanctis; album art direction by Leonardo Pellegrino (Decca)
• VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA, music by Alexander Courage, Robert Drasnin, Jerry Goldsmith, Lennie Hayton, Joseph Mullendore, Nelson Riddle, Paul Sawtell, Herman Stein, and Leith Stevens; album produced by Jeff Bond and Neil S. Bulk; liner notes by Jeff Bond; album art direction by Mark Banning (La-La Land)
• WORLD SOUNDTRACK AWARDS – TRIBUTE TO THE FILM COMPOSER, music by Various Composers; the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra and Vlaams Radiokoor, conducted by Dirk Brossé; album produced by Thomas Van Parys; liner notes by Thomas Van Parys; album art direction by Stuart Ford (Silva Screen/Film Fest Ghent)

FILM MUSIC RECORD LABEL OF THE YEAR

• INTRADA RECORDS, Douglass Fake and Roger Feigelson
• LA-LA LAND RECORDS, MV Gerhard and Matt Verboys
• MOVIESCORE MEDIA, Mikael Carlsson
• QUARTET RECORDS, José M. Benitez
• TADLOW MUSIC, James Fitzpatrick

FILM MUSIC COMPOSITION OF THE YEAR

• “1984” from WONDER WOMAN 1984, music by Hans Zimmer
• “Buck Takes the Lead” from THE CALL OF THE WILD, music by John Powell
• “Main Title” from THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT, music by Carlos Rafael Rivera
• “Symphonic Suite F – 1st Chapter: All Life” from FUKUSHIMA 50, music by Tarō Iwashiro
• “Themyscira” from WONDER WOMAN 1984, music by Hans Zimmer

Wonder Woman 1984 image courtesy of Warner Bros; The Trial of the Chicago 7 image courtesy of Nico Tavernise/Netflix

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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