Cerermony - The 13th Annual Hollywood Music In Media Award Winners

By Sophie Janinet, Los Angeles, The Avalon, 16 november 2022

The Hollywood Music in Media Awards (HMMA) presented their HMMA winners at their 13th Annual Awards Ceremony at the Avalon on Wednesday, November 16th. Award winning composers, songwriters, and films include:  Danny Elfman (Doctor Strange in the multiverse of madness), Alexandre Desplat (Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio), Michael Abels (Nope), Terence Blanchard (Woman king), Diane Warren (Tell it like a woman), Simon Franglen (Avatar: the way of water), Rihanna & Ludwig Goransson (Black Panther: Wakanda forever), Tanya Tucker and Brandi Carlile (the return of Tanya Tucker – featuring Brandi Carlile), Billy Eichner (bros), Tár, and Killing me softly with his songs. 

The awards were presented Wednesday, November 16, 2022 at 8:00pm (PST) at The Avalon 1735 Vine Street in Hollywood, featuring special performances from Charles Fox performing a medley of his TV theme songs including Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley; Diane Warren performed her original song from Tell It Like a Woman, “Applause,” and received roaring applause when she won Best Song for Independent Film; Rita Wilson performing her original song from the film A Man Called Otto, “’Til You’re Home;” and Iranian singer Mojgan Shajarian, the daughter of Maestro Mohammad-Reza Shajarian, performing the Unofficial National Anthem of Freedom in Iran “Morghe Sahar.” Kurt Farquhar, prolific television composer and the recipient of the HMMA Career Achievement Award, gave an inspiring acceptance speech about growing up in Chicago and battling homelessness before beginning his career as a composer. He extended an emotional thank you to his brother, Ralph Farquhar who helped him get his first jobs in television. He urged Hollywood to consider working with composers and creatives that aren’t the obvious choice. Presenters included composer Justin Hurwitz, whose first award was an HMMA for his La La Land score that went on to win the Academy Award and who composed the score for the upcoming film, Babylon; legendary member of Earth, Wind, and Fire, Ralph Johnson; and composers Nami Melumad (Thor: Love and Thunder, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds) and Amie Doherty (She Hulk: Attorney at Law, Spirit Untamed). 

Billy Eichner accepted the Best Onscreen performance award for his onscreen performance of the original song “Love is Not Love” from BROS, and gushed about his co-writer and the film’s composer, Marc Shaiman. “Weird Al” Yankovic accepted the award for Best Song for a Film (Streamed), and said he wrote the song in hopes he might win an HMMA one day. Danny Elfman accepted the award for Best Score for a Sci-Fi Film and thanked his director Sam Raimi. Elfman quipped that their relationship began when they were “storming the beaches at Normandy.” Simon Franglen dedicated his HMMA Award for Best Score for a Fantasy Film for Avatar: the way of water to his longtime friend and mentor, the late James Horner. Alexandre Desplat accepted the award for Best Song for an Animated Film with his co-writer Roeban Katz, and sent regards from their third co-writer who was unable to attend, Guillermo Del Toro. Tererence Blanchard accepted the award for Best Score for a Feature Film for Woman king, emphasizing the importance of Kurt Farquhar’s message of inclusion and equality. Hildur Guðnadóttir, past HMMA recipient for her Academy Award-winning JOKER score, accepted the award for Best Music Themed Film, Biopic, or Musical on behalf of TÁR.

The HMMAs honors composers, songwriters, and music supervisors for their work in music for film, television, and videogames. For awards consideration, score entries submit up to 15-minutes of score to picture as it appears in the visual media project. Several films were only available to see in the context of the scenes provided.  Hollywood Music in Media Awards™ (HMMA) is the premier awards organization to honor original music (Song and Score) in all visual media from around the globe. The HMMA nominations have historically been representative of the nominees and winners of the Golden Globes, Oscars, Grammys, and Emmys that occur months later. The Hollywood Music in Media Awards will feature music performances, celebrity presenters, tributes to music industry icons, awards for composers, songwriters, and artists. 

Past HMMA winners who went on to win Oscars include last year’s Billie Eilish and Finneas for No time to die and Hans Zimmer for Dune, as well as Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross & Jon Batiste for Soul, Hildur Guðnadóttir for Joker, Ludwig Goransson for Black Panther, Alexandre Desplat for Shape of water, songs from Judas & The black messiah, la la land, A star is born and more. The HMMA voters consist of select journalists, Oscar, Grammy, Golden Globe and Emmy voters.  For a complete list of winners in all categories visit https://www.hmmawards.com/hmma-winners/

Score - feature film
Terence Blanchard - The woman king

Score - animated film
Alexandre Desplat - Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio

Score - scifi film
Danny Elfman - Doctor Strange in the multiverse of madness

Score - fantasy film
Simon Franglen - Avatar: the way of water

Score - horror film
Michael Abels - Nope

Score - documentary
Jessica Jones - The tinder swindler

Score - independent film
Emilie Levienaise – Farrouch - Living

Score - independent film (foreign language)
Carlo Siliotto - Cuando sea joven (Spanish)

Song - feature film
"Lift Me Up" from Black Panther: wakanda forever. Written by Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler, and Ludwig Göransson. Performed by Rihanna.

Song - animated film
"Ciao Papa" from Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio. Written by Alexandre Desplat, Lyrics by Roeben Katz and Guillermo del Toro. Performed by Gregory Mann
 
Song - documentary film
"Ready As I'll Never Be" from The return of Tanya Tucker – featuring brandi carlile. Written by Brandi Carlile and Tanya Tucker. Performed by Tanya Tucker.

Song - independent film
"Applause" from Tell it like a woman. Written by Diane Warren. Performed by Sofia Carson.

Song – onscreen performance
“Love Is Not Love” from Bros – Billy Eichner

Music themed film, biopic or musical
TÁR - Produced by Todd Field, Scott Lambert, Alexandra Milchan. Directed by Todd Field.

Music documentary/special program
Killing me softly with his songs - Directed by Danny Gold.

You can discover the photos of the red carpet in our Flickr page here and here and from the ceremony here and the official photos here.

Our interviews on the red carpet can be watch in our Youtube channel : Alexandre Desplat, Diane Warren, Terence Blanchard and Weird Al Yankovic

Photos : Sophie Janinet and Carina Mulcahy

(Source : press release)