Composer John Gürtler wins EFA Original Score 2019

Composer John Gürtler wins the European Original Score 2019 Award for 'System Crasher'. The OST will be available on Friday December 6th.

On November , the European Film Academy and EFA Productions announced the first winners to be honored at the 32nd European Film Awards, presented on 7 December in Berlin.

A special eight-member jury (including French editor Nadia Ben Rachid, German composer Annette Focks, Portuguese production designer Artur Pinheiro and Norwegian sound designer Gisle Tveito) convened in Berlin and, based on the EFA Feature Film Selection, decided on the winners in the categories cinematography, editing, production design, costume design, hair & make-up, original score, sound and visual effects.

The excellence jury decided to award this year's 'European Original Score' prize to John Gürtler for his work on Nora Fingscheidt's System Crasher:
'The music in SYSTEM CRASHER is modern, virtuosic, impulsive and surprising. John Gürtler has transformed the unspeakable into music. Where words are no longer possible, his film music manages to function as a non-verbal language, reflecting the inside of the protagonist and carrying the viewer along with it.'

Nora Fingscheidt's impressive debut feature previously won the Alfred Bauer Silver Bear Prize at this year's Berlin International Film Festival. The psychological drama has furthermore been chosen as Germany's representative for the International Feature Film Award at the 92nd Oscars and is nominated for the 'Best Film' category at the European Film Awards. The film's main actress, Helena Zengel in the role of Benni, is nominated for European Actress 2019.

John Gürtler about the creative process of composing System Crasher's quite heterogeneous score :

''System Crasher' marks my fourth collaboration with Nora. Just as for her previous projects, we discussed the score in an early stage and I wrote and produced all music prior to shooting or at the start of the editing process. We worked hard on developing a specific sound for a couple of key moments in the film such as the café scene, the car scene, where we witness how the relationship between Benni and Micha further develops, or the moment when Benni escapes: those needed a quite different musical approach - from a tender whistle theme, to rather energetic electronic tracks to more experimental saxophone improvisations. All of these different ideas and mini worlds - from fast-paced electronica to explosive free jazz drums, children's music, EDM pop and even free spirited kraut rock - come together for brief moments in a number of cues. As those different ideas and sounds reappear, we keep the score from falling apart.

Having known Nora for close to ten years, meant the scoring process was pretty intimate where almost all musical decisions were made between us and the editor Stephan Bechinger. Nora and Stephan were working on increasing the pace of the movie and I encouraged them to abruptly end the scenes with music by just cutting them off hard. That way you got propelled into the next scene and have little time to reflect - together with the sound design it gives the whole viewing process quite a physical feel.'

Director Nora Fingscheidt about the collaboration with John:

'When we started the conversation about the music for 'System Crasher', John asked me to find words that describe the music I wished the film to have. I came back with words such as 'wild', 'untamed', 'childish', and 'bulky' in reflection of Benni's character. Translating her character into music and finding the right balance was a very inspiring process. The first attempts were very experimental and we figured that we also needed something tender and emotional as Benni has both sides. Throughout the editing, we sometimes needed to adjust the editing to the music, sometimes vice versa. Working in this constellation now for many years is fantastic, because we trust each other. John is not only just an extremely talented musician, but also a great storyteller. Our collaboration inspires me often before the shooting starts.'

More info at: Paradoxe Paradise