Oscars 2024 – Film Music
Ludwig Göransson and Billie Eilish cheer
March 10, 2024 by Antonia Goldhammer
Golden boys for “Barbenheimer”: Ludwig Göransson wins the Oscar for “Best Film Music” for his score for “Oppenheimer” and Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas O’Connell take the Oscar for “Best Song” for their “Barbie” song home… – that was predictable, but what was really exciting from a musical perspective was the category “Best Documentary Short Film” and a touching live performance.
Image source: picture alliance / newscom | PAT BENIC
Best film music: “Oppenheimer”
Ludwig Göransson created music like out-of-control chain reactions for the biography of nuclear physicist Robert J. Oppenheimer, the “inventor of the atomic bomb.” Göransson wins an Oscar for the second time after 2019 (“Black Panther”). And for “Oppenheimer” there were ultimately seven golden boys that evening – making it the most successful film at this year’s Academy Awards. Göransson thanked director Christopher Nolan for his idea of giving the violin a central place in the score because it meant he could work with his wife, violinist Serena McKinney.
Fission | Oppenheimer OST
Bester Filmsong: “Barbie” – “What was I made for?”
Billie Eilish O’Connell and her brother Finneas at the Oscars 2024 | Image source: picture alliance / Sipa USA | Sipa USA “Barbie” was nominated twice in the song category. While the audience pretty much agreed that Ryan Gosling had the biggest performance of the night with his Ken song in a pink glitter suit, it was the sibling duo Billie Eilish O’Connell (22) and Finneas O’Connell (26) who did was finally able to accept the Oscar from colleagues Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. “I had a nightmare yesterday where I was standing here…” with these words Billie Eilish began her acceptance speech, but didn’t reveal what happened, but quickly burst out laughing and then thanked her with lots of tears to say: to the Academy, but also to her choir teachers (“You didn’t like me, but you’re good at your job”) and to her best friend from childhood.
Thanks to my best friend Zoe for playing Barbie with me.
(Billie Eilish)
Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell won for the first time in 2022 with the Bond song “No Time To Die”. Otherwise, “Barbie” was one of the big losers of the evening: the song Oscar was the only one with ten nominations. Bradley Cooper’s Leonard Bernstein biography “Maestro” also came away empty-handed despite seven nominations.
Film composer Kris Bowers wins documentary short Oscar
Composer Kris Bowers co-directed “The Last Repair Shop” with Canadian director Ben Proudfoot. | Image source: picture alliance / ZUMAPRESS.com | AMPAS While the successes of Göransson and Eilish were predictable, there was a big surprise from a film music perspective: the first big moment for a film composer at the 2024 Oscars was in the “Best Documentary Short Film” category. Composer Kris Bowers (known for “The Green Book”) co-directs with Canadian director Ben Proudfoot “The Last Repair Shop” guided. The film portrays a workshop in Los Angeles where volunteers service school musical instruments for free. It is the last workshop of its kind in the USA.
Music lessons don’t create incredible musicians, they create incredible people!
(Kris Bowers)
In his acceptance speech, Kris Bowers made a passionate plea for such initiatives, for the provision of musical instruments and for music lessons in schools. “The film is about the heroines and heroes in schools who no one sings their praises, who no one thanks and who are not seen. Tonight we sing your praises, we thank you and we see you.”
The Last Repair Shop | 2024 Oscar-Nominated Documentary Short
Indigenous Osage Nation with goosebumps live performances
Musicians from the Osage Nation on the red carpet. | Image source: picture alliance / Sipa USA The Oscars want to become more diverse, in fact the main categories were once again relatively “white”. Not just in view of that the performance of the nominated song “Wahzhazhe” (“A Song for My People”) from “Killers of the Flower Moon” is an absolute highlight. The film by Martin Scorsese tells how a hundred years ago in Oklahoma, unscrupulous businessmen systematically murdered indigenous families from the Osage Nation in order to get oil. The song’s three composers, Scott George, Kenny and Vann Bighorse, are Osage themselves and, along with the film’s lead actress, Lily Gladstone, are the first Indigenous people ever nominated for an Oscar. “Wahzhazhe” is the name of the Osage in their own language and this meaningful song is a sign of their survival. Ten musicians from the ranks of the Osage came onto the stage with traditional instruments and in traditional clothing and sang their song as a community with their eyes closed – an almost religious moment that, with its depth, almost made the Oscar Gala, which naturally focuses on beautiful surfaces, almost already overwhelmed.
Broadcast: “Allegro” on March 11, 2024 from 6:05 a.m. on BR-KLASSIK