On Friday, July 8, 2022, Iranian filmmakers Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Aleahmad were arrested and imprisoned at an unknown location for protesting against violence against civilians in Iran. Mohammad Rasoulof had already been deprived of his freedom of movement and work since 2017, following the screening of his film A Man of Integrity, which won the Un Certain Regard Award at the 70th edition of the Festival de Cannes. His films Manuscripts Don’t Burn, which won the Fipresci Prize in 2013 and Goodbye, which won the Best Director Prize at Un Certain Regard in 2011, had also been screened in Cannes. He had subsequently won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Festival in 2020 with There is No Evil.
Today, on Monday, July 11, Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi was also arrested in Tehran. The director presented numerous works at Cannes, including Three Faces, which was selected in Competition in 2018 and awarded the Prize for Best Screenplay, as well as Crimson Gold, which won the Jury Prize at Un Certain Regard in 2003. Jafar Panahi also won the Golden Bear at the Berlinale in 2015 for his film Taxi.

The Festival de Cannes strongly condemns these arrests as well as the wave of repression obviously in progress in Iran against its artists. The Festival calls for the immediate release of Mohammad Rasoulof, Mostafa Aleahmad and Jafar Panahi.
The Festival de Cannes also wishes to reassert its support to all those who, throughout the world, are subjected to violence and repression. The Festival remains and will always remain a haven for artists from all over the world and it will relentlessly be at their service in order to convey their voices loud and clear, in the defense of freedom of creation and freedom of speech.

Tom Cruise will be in attendance in Cannes on May 18, 2022 for the screening of Top Gun: Maverick, scheduled for release on May 25 in France and May 27 in the US. The Festival will also pay a special tribute to Tom Cruise for his career.

Top Gun hero Maverick, will be back in cinemas all over the world and Tom Cruise will return to the Festival de Cannes where he has made only one appearance before: on May 18, 1992, for Ron Howard’s Far and Away, the closing film of the 45th Festival. That evening, he had awarded the Palme d’or to director Bille August for his film The Best Intentions.

Exactly thirty years later, on May 18, 2022, the Festival de Cannes will pay him an exceptional tribute for his lifetime achievements. On that special day, Tom Cruise will have an on-stage conversation with journalist Didier Allouch in the afternoon and will walk up the steps of the Palais des Festivals for the evening screening of Top Gun: Maverick, directed by Joseph Kosinski.
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Top Gun: Maverick

A film by Joseph Kosinski
Starring Tom Cruise, Jennifer Connelly, Miles Teller, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman and Ed Harris
Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, Tom Cruise, David Ellison and Christopher McQuarrie
Distributed in France by Paramount Pictures France
Distributed in the United States by Paramount Pictures
French release on Wednesday May 25, 2022
US release on Friday May 27, 2022

Young composers are the future of the film music industry, but rarely get the chance to showcase their talent to a (non-)professional (live) audience. Therefore, the World Soundtrack Academy each year offers screen composers under the age of 36 the chance to participate in the WSA Film Music Composition Contest and to win the Sabam Award for Best Original Composition by a Young Composer (worth €2.500) at the World Soundtrack Awards Ceremony & Concert. This year’s contestants are tasked with writing a score for an excerpt from F.W. Murnau’s centenary silent classic Nosferatu (1922).

For its latest edition of the annual Composition Contest, the WSAcademy invites young composers for screen under the age of 36 to write a score for a scene from Nosferatu, Murnau’s timeless classic which celebrates its 100th birthday this year. For a century now, vampire Count Orlok sows fear among everyone who beholds this German Expressionist adaptation of the well-known story of Count Dracula, while he chases and startles people, projecting that iconic shadow of his long fingers and bald head onto the walls. The chosen excerpt shows Orlok on a ship haunting yet another victim by arising from his coffin. The clip offers opportunities for sound effects and the musical expression of fear and horror.

A professional jury, including WSA President of the Board and conductor Dirk Brossé, will select three finalists who will be invited to Film Fest Ghent 2022 in October where they will attend all film music events. These three composers will have the honour to be hearing their music performed live by Brussels Philharmonic, conducted by Dirk Brossé, at the World Soundtrack Awards Ceremony & Concert on 22 October, after which the winner of the Sabam Award for Best Original Composition by a Young Composer will be announced. Previous winners include Dougal Kemp (excerpt from Nanook of the North), Ana Kasrashvili (excerpt from J’ai perdu mon corps), Pierre Charles (excerpt from Don’t Look Now), Logan Nelson (excerpt from Grave of the Fireflies) and more. Check all previous winners on the WSA website.

Registration
Composers can now register for the WSA Film Music Composition Contest on the WSA website. Upon payment of €75, participants will receive a confirmation email with more information and a link to the excerpt from Nosferatu. Deadline for submission is 17 May 2022.

Participants should carefully read the Rule Book before submitting. You can download the Rule Book below or check it on the website.