The submission period for entries for the fourth edition of the Gil Soundtrack Award is now open

The competition boasts the collaboration of ESCAC (Cinema and Audiovisual School of Catalonia), which has produced the short film chosen for the composition of an original soundtrac

The contest, with its €50,000 award, is an international benchmark

The International Gil Soundtrack Award, created by the Spanish winery group Viñas Familia Gil, is opening the registration for its fourth edition. The contest will be judged by a star-studded jury chaired by Oscar winner Alejandro Amenábar and including renowned, award-winning professionals in the fields of symphony orchestra conducting, soundtrack composition, and film production and distribution at the national and international levels, as well as a member of the family who founded Viñas Familia Gil, the organizers of the competition.

The competition, which awards €50,000 to the composer of the best soundtrack for a short film, has broadened its search for young talent by including young filmmakers in the scripting and production of the audiovisual piece. To this effect, Viñas Familia Gil has begun a collaboration with ESCAC (Cinema and Audiovisual School of Catalonia) to encourage the pairing of music and film, thereby strengthening the world of the arts, one of the areas most battered by COVID-19.

Alejandro Amenábar, winner of 1 Oscar and 9 Goyas, will chair the 2022 jury.

Thus, in this fourth edition, the short film was selected in a previous script competition in collaboration with ESCAC. The winning short film, “Lo que siembras” (What you saw,) is a story full of emotions and feelings that represent the values of the Gil family. The title also refers to the popular saying, “You reap what you sow,” and its protagonist reaps what he has sown in life.

The short was produced by Escac Films, ESCAC’s academic production company, with a technical team of some thirty people formed entirely by the school’s students and graduates. The piece was directed by ESCAC graduate Carlos Alonso Ojea, who is currently filming his feature debut. The short stars Luisa Gavasa (winner of a Goya for Best Supporting Actress, as well as CEC, Feroz, and Actors Union awards).

The selection of Alejandro Amenábar as jury president this year is no accident. He calls himself a soundtrack fanatic, and music plays an essential role in his creative process. This passion for music has led him to compose soundtracks for some of his films, such as “Tesis,” “Abre los ojos,” “Los otros,” and “Mar adentro,” for which he won an Oscar. But he has also written soundtracks for other films, such as José Luis Cuerda’s “La lengua de las mariposas” and Mateo Gil’s “Nadie conoce a nadie.”

In the three previous editions, the jury included major international names such as Patrick Doyle, Scottish composer of the soundtracks for “Sense and Sensibility,” “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” and “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”; Bruce Broughton, American composer of the soundtracks for “The Rescuers Down Under,” “Moonwalker,” and “Young Sherlock Holmes”; and Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir, winner of a Best Soundtrack Oscar for “Joker.”

The intention of the prize and the jury’s work is to assert that without a soundtrack, there is no emotion. The audiovisual language depends on music to generate emotional states in the viewer.

In accordance with this belief, this international award – one of a kind in its category and the best funded in the world – is intended to promote and support young composers at the beginning of their careers, as they are entrusted with supplying a universal emotional identity to films, videogames, documentaries and all types of audiovisual projects.

The deadline for registration is June 24, 2022, at 4:00 p.m. (Spanish time) More information and the terms and conditions of the competition can be found at www.gilsoundtrack.com