BMI at Sundance 2017

Peter Golub has been director of the Sundance Film Music Program since 2000, where he runs the yearly Composers Lab, an intensive workshop for aspiring film composers. He also serves on the Board of the American Music Center. Along with composing numerous concert works and ballets, his film scores include Frozen River, The Great Debaters, Wordplay and The Laramie Project, while recent scores for Broadway include The Heiress, The Country House, and Time Stands Still. Golub was awarded the Classic Contribution Award by BMI and a 2008 Vision Award. He is also the recipient of a Charles Ives Scholarship (given by the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters) as well as grants from the National Endowment of the Arts (Opera/Musical Theater Program), Meet-the-Composer, and New York Foundation for the Arts.

Award-winning composer George S. Clinton has scored more than 100 films, most notably Austin Powers International Man of Mystery and its blockbuster sequels, Disney’s hit Santa Clause sequels, Mortal Kombat 1 & 2, Wild Things, and Red Shoe Diaries, as well as John Water’s A Dirty Shame and the Emmy Award-winning Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee. Having started his impressive career as a songwriter, Clinton has also had songs recorded by music legends Michael Jackson and Joe Cocker. Other accolades include GRAMMY and Emmy nominations, the SCL Ambassador Award, the Spirit of Tennessee Award, and nine BMI Film Music Awards, including the BMI Icon Award for his indelible influence on generations of music makers. Clinton currently serves as an advisor at the Sundance Composers Lab, as well as on the Music Executive Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (The Oscars). He is also a member of the Television Academy and has served as Chair of the Film Scoring Department at Berklee College of Music. Most recently he became a board member of the Society of Composers and Lyricists and the Alliance for Women Film Composers.

Doreen Ringer-Ross is Vice President of Film, TV & Visual Media Relations at BMI. In this role, she directs all of BMI’s activities serving film, television and media composers. During her tenure, Ringer-Ross has established key programs for composers including the Sundance Composer’s Lab and the BMI Film/TV Composers Conducting Workshop. Along with working closely with numerous renowned composers, she also oversees BMI’s film scoring scholarships at USC, UCLA and Berklee College of Music, and has created artist development platforms with the Sundance Film Festival, the IFP Filmmaker Labs, the IFP Filmmakers Conference, the Los Angeles Film Festival, the SXSW Film Festival, and the Woodstock Film Festival. Ringer-Ross also serves as Vice Chairman of the Board for The Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation, is co-founder of the Alliance for Women Film Composers and is a member of the Peabody Awards Board, Advisory Board of the American Youth Symphony, Advisory Board for the IFP Filmmaker Labs, as well as the Board of the World Soundtrack Awards.

Having begun his musical career at the age of twelve playing guitar, Matthew Atticus Berger continued his education at Berklee College of Music in Boston, concentrating in guitar. In 2010, Berger moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in film music, landing his first job assisting composer Alex Wurman. 2012 brought his first role as title composer for Netflix’s romantic comedy, No Ordinary Hero. Since 2013, Berger has composed music for numerous feature films and documentaries, as well as several high profile TV shows. His most recent film work includes: TNT’s hit TV series, Murder In The First, the documentary When Two Worlds Collide, and Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee’s mesmerizing New York Time’s op-documentary Marie’s Dictionary.

Academy Award-nominated director Kief Davidson is known for making films that inspire and entertain. His latest film, The Ivory Game, about the elephant ivory trade, was executive produced by Leonardo DiCaprio and premiered at the 2016 Telluride and Toronto film festivals, followed by a Netflix Original global launch. Davidson’s resume also includes Open Heart, which was nominated for Best Documentary Short Subject at the 85th Academy Awards. The acclaimed film took him and a small crew to the heart of Rwanda and Sudan and inspired a companion film about Partners In Health called Bending The Arc, which is produced by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, and will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 2017. Other films include A Lego Brickumentary, which delves into the extraordinary impact of LEGO and the innovative uses for it that have sprung up around the world; Kassim The Dream, which won several international film festivals including AFI, IDFA and Silver Docs; and The Devil’s Miner, which won more than 15 awards at festivals including Tribeca, Hot Docs, Chicago and Woodstock. The film was also nominated for Best Documentary by The DGA and won the Fipresci Prize at Hot Docs.

Pedro Kos is a director and Emmy Award-winning editor whose work includes editing Jehane Noujaim's Academy Award-nominated The Square, as well as Lucy Walker's Academy Award-nominated Waste Land. Other credits include Walker’s The Crash Reel and Jon Shenk’s The Island President. Bending the Arc marks Kos’ documentary feature directorial debut. Hailing from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the talented filmmaker received his B.A. in Theater Directing from Yale University.

Award-winning composer H. Scott Salinas has contributed to an impressive variety of notable projects including Bruce Lee’s action fable Birth of the Dragon, Aaron Sorkin's smash hit The Newsroom, TNT's dark thriller Murder in the First, and Academy Award-nominated documentary film Cartel Land. In 2002, Salinas became the youngest Grand Prize recipient of the Turner Classic Movies Young Film Composers Competition, and along with accolades such as the prestigious Cannes Lion, Clio and BMI awards, his accomplishments have earned him esteem and recognition as a highly versatile yet specialized talent. From composing the brooding hybrid orchestral score to the Darren Aronofsky-produced Zipper, to his original song “Jamie Smiles” written for the cult comedy classic Just Friends, to acting as the instrumental mouthpiece behind the Old Spice whistle, Salinas’ ability to create a meaningful impact across a wide spectrum is evident in his work.

Matthew Heineman’s latest film, Cartel Land, was nominated for an Academy Award and won three Primetime Emmys. The film premiered at Sundance 2015, where Heineman won the Best Director Award and Special Jury Prize for Cinematography. He also received the Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary Award from the DGA and the Courage Under Fire Award from the IDA. Previously, Heineman directed and produced the Emmy-nominated feature-length documentary Escape Fire, which premiered at Sundance 2012.

Known internationally in the film and music industry for experimental acoustic and electric cello, Martin Tillman has created a revolutionary sound of his own by extending the traditional boundaries of classical cello. Tillman discovered composing film music in a unique way - he was brought in as the first electric cellist in Hollywood by Hans Zimmer on the movie The Fan (Robert De Niro). Since then, he has been the cello soloist and additional score writer on more than 100 movies and TV shows, with credits that include Pirates Of The Caribbean, The Martian, Rush, Dark Knight Rises, Dark Knight, Batman, The 84th Annual Academy Awards, Transformers, Angel and Demons, The Da Vinci Code, Constantine, The Passion Of The Christ, The Ring, The Ring Two, Ali, Hannibal, The Pledge, Mission Impossible II, The Fan, and many more. His original film scores include Cries from Syria, Schellen Ursli (Little Mountain Boy), In The Name Of Honor, Dark Hearts, Last Knights, Brave Miss World, Admissions and The Ring Two, for which he was the recipient of a BMI Award.

Evgeny Afineevsky’s most recent film, Winter On Fire, earned the award-winning filmmaker an Academy Award nomination, a Primetime Emmy Award nomination, the People’s Choice Award for Best Documentary from the Toronto International Film Festival, and the Television Academy Honors Award. The compelling historical feature documentary was also an official selection of the prestigious Venice and Telluride International Film festivals. Afineevsky started his career by producing and directing more than six award-winning independent features.

Composer, Sundance Institute alum and founding member of the genre-bending chamber ensemble “Tin Hat,” Mark Orton, has written original scores or contributed music to numerous films including The Good Girl Sweet Land, Everything Is Illuminated, Buck, The Revisionaries, My Old Lady, 360, and Nebraska, as well as Ken Burns' The Roosevelts and Laika Studios’ The Boxtrolls. As an arranger, he has worked with artists such as Tom Waits, Willie Nelson, Mike Patton, and Madeline Peyroux. Orton also has a long history of composing for avant-garde radio dramas and syndicated programs, including This American Life and All Things Considered.

Emmy-nominated filmmaker Sydney Freeland’s debut feature, Drunktown’s Finest, premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and went on to receive the Jury Prize at LA Outfest and a GLAAD Media Award nomination. She also directed the web-series Her Story, which earned an Emmy nomination and won a Gotham Award. An alum of the Sundance Native Lab, Sundance Screenwriter’s Lab, Sundance Director’s Lab, and Sundance Women’s Fellowship, Freeland is also a Time Warner and Ford Fellowship recipient.

Tyler Strickland is an LA-based film composer whose scores have accompanied recent award-winning documentary films including Netflix Original Audrie & Daisy (Sundance 2016), The Return (Tribeca 2016 Audience Award Winner), Best And Most Beautiful Things (SXSW 2016), CNN Films' Fresh Dressed (Sundance 2015), Emmy-nominated Netflix Original Hot Girls Wanted (Sundance 2015), and a dozen others, since beginning to compose for film in 2011. Prior to his impressive achievements in scoring, Strickland had a long and successful career as a touring musician.

Michael Barnett is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker with a history of telling inspiring, inquisitive, and captivating stories. His first film, the Emmy-nominated HBO documentary Superheroes, is a chronicle of the real-life superhero community. In 2012, Barnett created the production company SuperFilms! and executive produced the Sundance Selects and IFC film Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. His next film, Showtime’s Becoming Bulletproof, on which he partnered with Morgan Spurlock, tells the intimate story of a group of filmmakers living with disabilities. The acclaimed project went on to win more than 25 Best Documentary, Grand Jury and Audience Award prizes.

Over the past six years, Keegan DeWitt has brought 12 films to the Sundance Film Festival, titles that have gone on to garner an Academy Award, multiple Sundance Audience Awards, and several Independent Spirit Awards. In 2016, he premiered the highly anticipated TV show Divorce on HBO, which has already been renewed for a second season, and in 2017, prepares to premiere Making History on Fox. In addition, this year he brings an astounding four films to the film festival, including a late surprise entry by director Drake Doremus (Equals, Like Crazy) entitled Newness. He has also reteamed with Brett Haley for The Hero, as well as with Alex Ross Perry for Golden Exits and Jim Strouse (People, Places, Things) for the first time on The Incredible Jessica James. Along with his prolific work as a successful composer, DeWitt is the lead singer and songwriter of the band Wild Cub, whose hit “Thunder Clatter” recently sat in the top 15 at Alternative Radio.

Brett Haley grew up in Key West and Pensacola, FL, and graduated with a BFA in directing from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. He has co-written, edited, and directed three feature films, including I'll See You In My Dreams, which premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. The film stars Blythe Danner (who was nominated for a Gotham Award for Best Actress for her role), Sam Elliott, Martin Starr, June Squibb, Rhea Perlman, Mary Kay Place, Reid Scott and Malin Akerman. Acquired by Bleecker Street Films and released in theaters nationwide in May of 2015, I'll See You In My Dreams was released worldwide in early 2016. His first feature film, The New Year, premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival and won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Film at the Sarasota Film Festival. Haley’s latest film, The Hero, which stars Sam Elliott, Laura Prepon, Nick Offerman, Krysten Ritter and Katharine Ross, premieres in the U.S. Dramatic Competition category at this year’s film festival.

Gregory Tripi is a film composer based out of Los Angeles, and owner of eSonic Productions. His music has been heard in several top Hollywood films and television series, including Dark Places, The Knick, Drive, Contagion, Drag Me To Hell, and the video games Twisted Metal and Far Cry 4. Tripi’s compositions have been featured in national ads by Adidas, Lincoln Motors, Miramax Films, Ghost House Pictures, The Coca-Cola Company and many more. His music has been awarded the Georges Delerue Film Scoring Award and the Thomas Dolby Production Award, and his scores have been heard in Academy Award and Emmy Award-winning films. He is also a recipient of the BMI Pete Carpenter Fellowship and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Music Fellowship.

Mark Palansky’s dynamic and evocative visual style has graced screens large and small – from award-winning short The Same, to the critically acclaimed feature Penelope, to memorable ads for top brands such as Fiat and Target. In January 2017, his work will be seen in the highly anticipated Netflix show Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. His second feature, Rememory, starring Peter Dinklage, makes its world premiere at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.

Four-time Emmy award-winner and composer of the GRAMMY award-winning album, Ask Your Mama, Laura Karpman maintains a vibrant career in film, television, videogame, concert and theater music. Her distinguished credits include the hit series Underground, on which she collaborated with Rapheal Saadiq and John Legend. She has served as an advisor for the Sundance Film Scoring Lab and the Music Branch Executive Committee of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. In 2016, she was elected governor of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences’ Music Branch. Karpman is also proud to be the founding president of the Alliance for Women Film Composers.

Amanda Lipitz is a Tony Award–winning producer whose Broadway credits include Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Legally Blonde, The Performers, A View From the Bridge, and The Humans. She was also executive producer and creator for MTV’s Legally Blonde the Musical: The Search for Elle Woods. Lipitz received a BFA in theatre from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and is now on the Board of Trustees at the prestigious university. STEP is her feature directorial debut.

Known for his signature themes and inventive dramatic solutions, Fil Eisler’s work can be heard on the films How To Be Single, the upcoming CHiPs remake and sci-fi/thriller feature The Titan. He also served as the primary composer for Sundance 2016’s poignant documentary Newtown, for which he composed the main title theme and acted as music director, leading an all-star lineup of more than a dozen Hollywood composers who each donated a piece of music for the film. Eisler’s credits also include some of TV’s most popular series, including Fox’s Empire, Showtime's Emmy-winning Shameless and ABC’s Revenge, as well as Lifetime’s critically lauded series UnReal. In 2008, Fil was among a select group of up-and-coming composers invited to the Sundance Film Composer's Lab. He returned to Sundance in 2011 with On the Ice, and scored the Sundance-backed documentary Whatever It Takes, as well as Jonathan van Tulleken's BAFTA-nominated thriller Off Season. Awards include Best Film Score, Grand Jury and Audience Awards for his work on Natural Selection at the 2011 SXSW Film Festival. Eisler has also been a nominee and recipient of numerous accolades, including the World Soundtrack Awards New Discovery and multiple BMI awards.

Marti Noxon created and executive produces Bravo’s Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce, in addition to having co-created and executive producing the acclaimed Lifetime series Unreal. She has also written for and executive produced many other critically acclaimed shows including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Grey’s Anatomy, and Brothers & Sister, while her film credits include I Am Number Four and Fright Night. Noxon’s upcoming projects include television adaptations of Gillian Flynn’s bestselling novel Sharp Objects, starring Amy Adams, and Dietland.

As a composer with a genre-defying musical fluidity, Jeff Beal’s film scores have received critical acclaim while he also remains a respected composer in the concert, theater and dance worlds. His evocative score and theme for the drama House of Cards received four Emmy Award nominations, winning for score and bringing Beal’s astounding Emmy tally to sixteen nods and four statues. Recently named Television Composer of the Year by the World Soundtrack Awards, Beal’s other lauded works for the screen include Monk (USA), and HBO’s epic series Rome and Carnivale, while film credits include recent box office and Sundance hit documentaries Blackfish, Weiner and Queen of Versailles, along with dramas Pollock and Appaloosa. In addition to these accolades, his concert works have been performed by the St. Louis, Oakland, Berkley, Rochester, Pacific, Munich, and Detroit symphony orchestras. Commissions include works for the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Smuin Ballet, Oregon Ballet, Cantus, Eric Whitacre Singers, Ying Quartet, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, as well as GRAMMY winner Jason Vieaux. Beal recently conducted the world premiere of his House Of Cards in Concert with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center. In 2017-18 he will be conducting his film score for the Buster Keaton classic silent The General with the LA Chamber Orchestra and his House Of Cards program at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

Bonni Cohen has produced and directed award-winning films including The Island President, winner of the 2011 Toronto International Best Documentary, and The Rape of Europa, which earned both PGA and WGA award nominations. Other credits include Audrie & Daisy, which premiered in competition at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival and was picked up by Netflix. Cohen also executive produced 3.5 Minutes, which premiered at Sundance in 2015.

Jon Shenk has directed and photographed many award-winning films, including The Island President, winner of the 2011 TIFF’s People’s Choice Award, as well as IDA’s Pare Lorentz Award. His resume also includes Lost Boys of Sudan, winner of the 2004 Independent Spirit Award and Audrie & Daisy, which premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. Other credits include the Academy Award–winning Smile Pinki and Emmy-winning Blame Somebody Else.