E C FA AWA R D S 2 0 2 2 February is ECFA Award season! It’s our members who voted for the best European films in three categories, and for each of the three winners we had a representative in the well-attended Award Ceremony, which felt very much like a reconciliation with public life. Congratulations to all the winners – we give them the floor!
ECFA AWARD FOR BEST FEATURE: CALAMITY
Florencia Di Concilio: “Banjo’s are known as annoying instruments”
Representing the award winning Best Feature was Florencia Di Concilio, composer of the French animation CALAMITY by Remi Chayé. As a composer, is animation your natural habitat? Florencia Di Concilio: No, this is my first animation film, but I already know it’s not going to be my last, as Remy Chayé already asked me for his next one. Congratulations! You’re the only one in the room who knows Remi’s plans for the future. Di Concilio: I am, and I’m not sure if I should tell you. Remi’s films always revolve around girls with very special stories and personalities. This is going to be another one like that. The first word that comes to mind when listening to CALAMITY’s soundtrack is ‘bluegrass’. Di Concilio: That is what I like about
my job as a composer, which was very different in my previous occupation as a classical piano player. Now under all circumstances, I can be true to my style, keep my own voice, and adapt it to whatever a story needs. We casted a bunch of amazing musicians that could translate our musical intentions into a bluegrass style; which went rather easily. Even if I never practised that style, I’ve been living for a long time in the US, so I kind of knew about it. I’m not a big fan of country music, but bluegrass is acoustic so it has a more authentic, rural flavour. By no means you could call me a bluegrass musician, but it wasn’t completely strange to me either. When they told me about interviewing the composer, I was expecting some kind of bearded banjo player. Di Concilio: Actually I am. I had a shave!
Di Concilio: Banjo’s are known as generally annoying instruments, but we had an amazing banjo player; he was very skinny and had no beard at all. Unexpectedly I became a fan of the instrument, and especially of the guy playing it. The other tonality that stands out is the one of the wide landscapes. Di Concilio: There are indeed two tones. One is the bluegrass, the other one is the symphonic larger scale orchestration that goes along with the wideness of the landscape and the rhythm of the action. And there is yet a third element, which is my own style; a kind of acoustic phrases electronically modified into the sound design.
Di Concilio: It takes a long time to create an animation film. I started working on CALAMITY when the animatic was finished and post-production began, so I had plenty of time to get to know the character and see her evolve. Simultaneously I saw my own daughter evolving; she was still a baby when I took on the project. In some respects I could see my daughter in her, at least in the way I would like her to be. Meanwhile I sang the main film theme as a lullaby for my son. To me deep emotions are attached to both the film and the character; it’s like a very dear part of my life.
The most striking element of the film is the unique, hard-headed main character Calamity. How do you feel about her?
How do you feel about banjo’s?
9 | Journal 2 | 2022
