Press release from Tropfest
Mosman real estate agent Stephen Lindsay, Sam Wyatt – a keyboard session musician from Adelaide, and Jack Hookey a student from the small Victorian country town of Kooyong, have had their film scores voted top of the Trops for 2011 – successfully competing to be named finalists of Tropfest’s movie score competition Max Tropscore.
The three finalist scores will fight it out for the honour of performing their winning score on Sunday 20 February in front of a live crowd of hundreds of thousands of film fans at screenings right across the country; with hundreds of thousands more tuning in to Movie Extra’s live national broadcast to check out all the Tropfest action from home.
The competition is stiff. Lindsay not formally trained in music and one of only two new Australian composers to have their scores recorded by the London Philharmonic Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios (2007), is determined to bring home his next honour. Wyatt a keyboardist and previous Tropscore finalist is back on top and keen to take home the winning prize this time. And Hookey the country boy from a large family of musicians is itching to set the record straight at home with his singer/ songwriter brother who was recently awarded Telstra’s road to Tamworth prize.
“It’s definitely going to be tough pickings for these judges” says John Polson – Tropfest Founder and Director.
“I’m wishing our panel of judges – Clare Bowditch (Musician), Andrew Lancaster (Director and Musician), Joshua Fielder (Musician), Antony Partos (Composer), Ben Facey (Marketing Director – Music Channels, XYZnetworks) and Daniel Crichton-Rouse (National Arts Editor, Street Press Australia) the best of luck on this one,” he says.
The Max Tropscore winner performs their score at Movie Extra Tropfest 2011, and included on the 2011 Movie Extra Tropfest Finalist DVD distributed in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. Plus take home $5,000 cash courtesy of principal partner, MAX.
Tropscore entrants each created an original musical score or synch for a three minute short film produced by emerging Australian film-maker, David Hansen [an edited version of his 2010 Movie Extra Tropfest shortlisted film, Escalate].