Distinguished guests from the world of music at the first edition of SoundTrack_Zurich (STZ): Songwriter Ray Parker Jr. (composer of the GHOSTBUSTERS theme song) and director Rolf Lyssy (Zurich Film Festival «Career Achievement Award» winner) will be joined by award-winning composers Stephen Warbeck (Academy Award for Shakespeare in Love), John Gürtler (European Film Award for System Crasher), Dascha Dauenhauer (German Film Award for Berlin Alexanderplatz), Olivia Pedroli (Swiss Film Award for Immer und ewig) and Tina Pepper (German TV Award for Rampensau) – just to mention a few of the more than 50 speakers.

“Who You Gonna Call?” is the catchy phrase in the Grammy and BAFTA winning theme song for GHOSTBUSTERS, the most successful comedy of the 80’s. STZ is proud to present Ray Parker Jr., the creator of this worldwide hit song at its first edition at the Zurich Film Festival. The US-American musician will present the documentary WHO YOU GONNA CALL about his life and will participate in a talk on film and music with Mathieu Jaton, director of the Montreux Jazz Festival. The Swiss director Rolf Lyssy will chat with composer Adina Friis about their collaboration and the process of creating the music for Lyssy’s latest project EDEN FÜR JEDEN. Stephen Warbeck, who won an Oscar (Academy Award) for his score to SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, will hold a case study on his work on the upcoming French drama DNA (ADN) by Maïwenn Le Besco.

Film composers: Behind the scenes

In a number of case studies composers from all over Europe will talk about their work: European Film Award winner John Gürtler (System Crasher) together with composing partner Jan Miserre will give an insight into their composing process. German Film Award winner Dascha Dauenhauer (Berlin Alexanderplatz), Swiss Film Award winner Olivia Pedroli (Immer und ewig) and German TV Award winner Tina Pepper (Rampensau) will introduce their award-winning compositions. Composer Matteo Pagamici and music supervisor Pascal Muenger will examine the score of PLATZSPITZBABY, this year’s most successful Swiss film. Composer Marco Biscarini and sound designer Luca Leprotti will present the sound of VOLEVO NASCONDERMI, a highly acclaimed Berlinale competition entry.
Robin Coudert will speak about his work for the award-winning series LE BUREAU and the GRETEL & HANSEL fantasy movie.

Industry events and networking

Networking sessions, sharing knowledge with peers and hands-on workshops are at the core of STZ: Topics include conflict management, trends in sync, music supervision, production music, self-promotion & PR, collecting societies know how, challenges of digitization and corona-emergency aid. In the hands-on workshop “Composing for Film with Artificial Intelligence”, organized by the FOCAL foundation, composer and A.I. researcher Janne Spijkervet will demonstrate new creative ways of creating music with algorithms.

Special screenings and live concerts

The programm of SoundTrack_Zurich includes special screenings and live concerts: The Swiss Post-Industrial heroes “The Young Gods” will perform live to Peter Mettler’s PETROPOLIS. Composer Kristian Eidnes Andersen will comment live on the ZFF competition drama CHARTER by Amanda Kernell. Two film music concerts, played by the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, present “Drama in Film”.

About SoundTrack_Zurich

SoundTrack_Zurich is a new European film music conference taking place during the Zurich Film Festival 2020 and part of the ZFF Industry Programme. STZ is organized by SMECA (Swiss Media Composers Association), curated by Michael P. Aust (SoundTrack_Cologne) and organized in cooperation with SoundTrack_Cologne, FFM (Forum Filmmusik), ZHdK (Zurich University of Arts), IMMSANE International Media Music and Sound Arts Network in Education.