The World Soundtrack Academy has announced the list of nominees for the three principal categories in the World Soundtrack Awards, the pre-eminent international prizes for the recognition of film music: Film Composer of the Year, Best Original Score of the Year and Best Original Song Written Directly for a Film. The names of the winners will be proclaimed on Saturday, October 17 at the closing event of the Ghent International Film Festival.

Every year in Ghent, the World Soundtrack Awards (WSA) are presented by the World Soundtrack Academy. The Academy, which was founded in 2001 by the Ghent International Film Festival and a number of film music composers, now encompassing close to 300 leading composers and representatives of the film music business. The stated goal of the Academy is to promote music in film, and it is achieving this with ever greater success, as can be seen by the growing (international) interest and recognition being given to film music.

The three principal categories are Film Composer of the Year, Best Original Score of the Year and Best Original Song Written Directly for a Film. At a later time, the Academy Board will also select the Discovery of the Year 2009. In addition to the Awards presented by the Academy, film music fans around the world can vote the best soundtrack of the past year (see www.worldsoundtrackacademy.com ).

The nominees the World Soundtrack Awards 2009:

FILM COMPOSER OF THE YEAR


o CARTER BURWELL (Burn After Reading, Twilight)

o ALEXANDRE DESPLAT (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Coco Avant Chanel, Largo Winch, Cheri)

o DANNY ELFMAN (Milk, Taking Woodstock, Notorious)

o MICHAEL GIACCHINO (Star Trek, Up, Land of the Lost)

o HANS ZIMMER (Frost/Nixon, Angels & Demons, The Dark Knight)

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE OF THE YEAR


o BURN AFTER READING by Carter Burwell

o THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON by Alexandre Desplat

o FROST/NIXON by Hans Zimmer

o THE INTERNATIONAL by Reinhold Heil, Tom Tykwer, Johnny Klimek

o SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE by A.R. Rahman

BEST ORIGINAL SONG WRITTEN DIRECTLY FOR A FILM


o "GRAN TORINO" from 'Gran Torino'

Music & Lyrics by Jamie Cullum, Clint Eastwood, Kyle Eastwood and Michael Stevens

Performed by Jamie Cullum & Don Runner


o "JAI HO" from 'Slumdog Millionaire'

Music by : A.R. Rahman

Lyrics by Gulzar and Tanvi Shah

Performed by A.R. Rahman, Sukhvinder Singh, Tanvi Shah, Mahalaksmi Iyver, Vijay Prakash

Published by KM Musiq ltd


o "O SAYA" from Slumdog Millionaire'

Music & Lyrics by A.R. Rahman and Mathangi Arulpragasam

Performed by M.I.A. & A.R. Rahman

Published by KM Musiq ltd


o "RUN & HIDE" from 'Je l'aimais'

Music & lyrics by Anna Chalon

Performed by Anna Chalon


o "THE WRESTLER" from 'The Wrestler'

Music & lyrics by Bruce Springsteen

Performed by Bruce Springsteen

Published by Bruce Springsteen

The number of tickets for the presentation of the World Soundtrack Awards including a reception are limited. Cost: € 75. You can order tickets from info@filmfestival.be