ISFMF 2023 – 11th edition – July – Brief summary and pictures

“On 23rd of July 2023 the first 2023 ISFMF event took place in Pula in the magnificent 2000-year-old Roman Amphitheater. The ISFMF Crystal Pine Awards for Lifetime Achievement for film sound and film music were presented to two outstanding professionals who during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of sound and music in cinematography: Michael Minkler and Howard Shore.

Michael Minkler, to whom the award was presented in person at the event, is a three-time Academy Award winning Sound Re-recording Mixer who has mixed over 275 motion pictures over the last five decades. He was awarded the Oscar for Black Hawk Down, Chicago, and Dreamgirls. He has received many other awards including the Career Achievement Award from the Cinema Audio Society, Three BAFTA Awards for Star Wars, JFK and Chicago. He is a member of one of the four family generations that set technological standards in film sound. Minkler is well-known for his collaboration with most of Hollywood’s elite producers and directors as Quentin Tarantino, Ridley Scott, Tom Hanks, Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas.

Howard Shore is one of today’s premier composers whose music is performed in concert halls around the world by the most prestigious orchestras and is heard in cinemas across the globe. Shore’s musical interpretation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s imaginative world of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, as portrayed in the films directed by Peter Jackson, have enthralled people of all generations for years. This work stands as his most acclaimed composition to date awarding him with three Academy Awards, four Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes as well as numerous critic’s and festival awards. The ISFMF Crystal Pine Award for Lifetime Achievement was presented to Howard Shore virtually, and a very special greeting was sent also by Annie Lennox,

Special guest of the evening was Mark Ulano, a four times Oscar nominee, most recently for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Ad Astra and Inglorious Bastards. His work on Titanic won him an Academy Award for Sound Mixing as well as the Cinema Audio Society Award for Best Sound mixing for a Feature Film. Most recently, his work can be heard on Whitney Houston: I wanna dance with somebody and in 2023 on the new Martin Scorsese spring release: Killers of the Flower Moon, starring Robert DeNiro and Leonardo DiCaprio.

After the awarding ceremony, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the film, ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’ was screened on one of the biggest screens in Europe, accompanied with the best sound system for creating a unique experience for the audience. The host of this successful event was Elis Lovrić.

ISFMF continues with its full edition in Samobor, Croatia from 12 – 15 October 2023 and it will bring unique content both for the industry and for the public. This year the festival will bring the official selection screenings with special guests, open talks with authors, the Crystal Pine Awarding ceremony, amazing music performances by international stars.”