Caitlin Yeo and APRA AMCOS CEO Dean Ormston.
Caitlin Yeo and Matteo Zingales each won two awards at the annual annual Screen Music Awards staged by APRA AMCOS and the Australian Guild of Screen Composers (AGCS) at the City Recital Hall in Sydney on Monday night.
Yeo won feature film score of the year and best soundtrack album for The Butterfly Tree, Priscilla Cameron’s movie about an ex-burlesque queen (Melissa George) who puts a curse on single dad Al (Ewen Leslie) and his son Fin (Ed Oxenbould).
The president of the AGSC, Yeo previously won feature film score of the year for Kim Mordant’s The Rocket in 2013.
Matteo Zingales was rewarded for his work on Hoodlum Entertainment’s Harrow as best television theme and for his collaboration with Antony Partos on Bunya Productions’ Mystery Road, which was deemed best music for a miniseries or telemovie.
Nerida Tyson-Chew took the prize for best music for children’s TV for her work on ABC ME’s The Missing, an episode of the animated series The Deep.
Father and son composers Cezary and Jan Skubiszewski, who teamed up to create the driving music for Fremantle Australia’s Picnic at Hanging Rock, were awarded best music for a TV series or serial. It was their second win in that category following Serangoon Road in 2014.
Among the first time winners was Perth-based Sean Tinnion whose score of the ABC’s A Stargazer’s Guide to the Cosmos was judged best music for a documentary.
Adrian Sergovich’s score for Bradley Slabe and Andrew Goldsmith’s Lost & Found earned him the award for best music for a short film.
First-time nominee Oscar Joe Gross was a first-time winner with Now I Know from ABC drama Pulse, receiving the award for best original song composed for the screen.
So was Jackson Milas, who collected the prize for best music for an advertisement for his music for the Forty Winks campaign.
Long-time collaborators Dinesh Wicks and Adam Gock were named most performed screen composers – Australia, while Neil Sutherland was judged the most performed screen composer – overseas for the 11th consecutive year, taking his overall tally of Screen Music Awards to 13.
Nigel Westlake with Robert Connolly.
Producer/director/writer Robert Connolly garnered the Distinguished Services to Australian Screen Award, presented by Nigel Westlake who composed the original score for Paper Planes.
Westlake said: “You would be hard pressed to find another individual who has given voice to the artistry of so many Australian composers, a man who has nurtured our community and provided the resources for our local talent to shine and realise their craft so thoroughly and with absolute integrity.
“The opportunity to work with Rob on Paper Planes was a highlight of my career. He is a filmmaker of the utmost integrity, a storyteller of immense facility, and has always believed in the power of cinema as a force for good.”
The Awards were hosted by Denise Scott, joined by presenters Gillian Armstrong, Marcus Graham, Arts Minister Don Harwin, Lynette Curran, Clayton Jacobson and Kim Gyngell.
WINNERS 2018 SCREEN MUSIC AWARDS
Distinguished Services to the Australian Screen Award
Robert Connolly
Feature Film Score of the Year
The Butterfly Tree
Composed by Caitlin Yeo
Best Television Theme
Harrow
Composed by Matteo Zingales
Published by Sonar Music
Best Music for a Television Series or Serial
Picnic at Hanging Rock
Composed by Cezary Skubiszewski and Jan Skubiszewski
Best Music for a Mini-Series or Telemovie
Mystery Road
Composed by Antony Partos and Matteo Zingales
Published by Sonar Music
Best Music for a Documentary
A Stargazer’s Guide to the Cosmos
Composed by Sean Tinnion
Best Music for a Short Film
Lost and Found
Composed by Adrian Sergovich
Best Soundtrack Album
The Butterfly Tree
Composed by Caitlin Yeo
Best Original Song Composed for the Screen
Now I Know from Pulse
Composed by Oscar Joe Gross
Published by ABC Music Publishing
Best Music for Children’s Television
The Deep: The Missing
Composed by Nerida Tyson-Chew
Best Music for an Advertisement
Forty Winks
Composed by Jackson Milas
Published by Sonar Music
Most Performed Screen Composer – Australia
Composers Dinesh Wicks and Adam Gock
Most Performed Screen Composer – Overseas
Composer Neil Sutherland