CHOIRS OF ANGELS
Sakamoto Ryuichi, the Japanese film composer and music supervisor who died in March, has been posthumously named as the recipient of the Jecheon Film Music Award at the 19th Jecheon International Music Film Festival (Aug. 10-15). Sakamoto won Academy Awards and Golden Globes for his score for The Last Emperor and has other credits including The Sheltering Sky, Railroad Man, The Revenant, Call Me By Your Name and The Fortress.
Abrai Joji from Commons the music label established jointly with Sakamoto, and Yutaka Toyama from Promax, which had produced Sakamotos concerts since 1986, will visit the festival. Additionally, a tribute concert will be held on Aug. 12 at the Jecheon Stadium.
OZ PRIZE RACE
West Australias CinefestOZ festival has named four films to compete in its competition section, with the winner scooping a A$100,000 ($68,200) prize. Bromley: Light After Dark, by Sean McDonald will have its world premiere, while Matt Veselys Monolith will transfer from the Melbourne festival. Shayda, by Iranian-Australian Noora Niasari, which premiered in Sundance and will also play in Melbourne, joins the fray. So too does The Rooster directed by Mark Leonard Winter.
CinefestOZ CEO Cassandra Jordansaid: These films all explore personal identity through unique, clever and compelling storytelling and filmmaking, which made them the standouts from this years submissions for film prize. The festival, held at Busselton, West Australia, runs Aug. 29 Sept. 3.)
CHINESE SONGBIRD
UniversalMusicPublishing China has struck an exclusive, global publishing agreement with acclaimed Chinese singer-songwriterTia Ray. She is the only Chinese singer to be listed on IFPIs Top 10 Global Singles Chart with her hit song, Be Apart, the worlds seventh best-selling track in 2018. Additionally, her collaborative songwriting project, TIVA000, received the 2021 Original Song Award of CCTV Global ChineseMusicTop 10, and her self-produced album Once Upon A Moon garnered two nominations best female mandarin singer and best vocal recording album at the Golden Melody Awards. She has recorded four studio albums and nearly 40 singles.
In putting songwriters first, one of our primary goals is to foster a dynamic and healthy environment that nurtures songwriters originality and transcends boundaries, said Joe Fang, MD of UMP China.