Composing for Films

As part of the "Composing for Films" Day at SoundTrack_Cologne 22, taking place on Thursday, July 10, our guest composers will reflect on the essential role that music plays in shaping a film’s emotional landscape, rhythm, and narrative depth. Scoring for film is more than composition, it is a craft that requires a deep understanding of storytelling, character, and cinematic language. Through examples and personal insights, our speakers will explore how they translate visual worlds into sound and how music becomes a powerful protagonist in the filmmaking process.

We are proud to welcome four exceptional composers whose recent work continues to push the boundaries of film music: Amine Bouhafa (The Man Who Sold His Skin · Hotel Destino), the 2025 German Film Award winner Dascha Dauenhauer (No Beast. So Fierce -Kein Tier. So Wild- · Islands), Jongnic Bontemps (Transformers: Rise of the Beasts · World’s Best), and our Career Achievement Award honouree, the multi-award-winning Michael Abels (Get Out · Us · Nope).

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Composing for Films
Thursday 10. July 2025 · COMEDIA Theater, Roter Saal

10:30 - 11:30
Amine Bouhafa
The Man Who Sold His Skin · Hotel Destino
Workshop · Discussion

12:00 - 13:00
Dascha Dauenhauer
No Beast. So Fierce (Kein Tier. So Wild) · Islands - winner of the German Film Prize 2025
Workshop · Discussion

14:30 - 15:30
Jongnic Bontemps
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts · World’s Best
Workshop · Discussion

16:00 - 17:30
Michael Abels
Nope · Us · Get Out

Amine Bouhafa

With over 100 credits for television and film, Amine Bouhafa is one of the most prolific composers of his generation.

Born and raised in Tunisia, Amine later moved to Paris to pursue his studies in mathematics and classical music.

A multi-awarded composer, he won the César for Best Original Music for his score for Timbuktu, and composed the music for The Man Who Sold His Skin and Four Daughters, both nominated for Academy Awards. He also scored Class Act, awarded the BAFTA for Best International Series, and The Adventures of Paddington, which received two Emmy Awards.

An inspired composer, passionate worker, and multi-instrumentalist, Amine Bouhafa moves fluidly across musical and cinematic genres, from classical to world music, from independent films to mainstream productions. This diversity reflects the dual cultural heritage that lies at the heart of his sincere and complex body of work. With one foot on each continent, Amine’s music and film choices form a bridge between traditions, blending them into a distinctive and unified voice.

He has collaborated with directors such as Peter Webber, Adam Shaw, Collin Teague, Karim Aïnouz, Kaouther Ben Hania, Patricia Mazuy, Katell Quillévéré, Tristan Séguéla, Philippe Faucon, and Hafsia Herzi.

Most recently, he composed the score for The Little Sister by Hafsia Herzi, which won Best Actress at Cannes 2025. He is currently working on Privilèges, an original HBO series by Marie Monge and Vladimir de Fontenay, as well as the video game Apheleon by Don’t Nod.

Dascha Dauenhauer

Dascha Dauenhauer is one of Germany’s most celebrated film composers of her generation. She has received numerous awards, including the German Film Award and the European Film Award for her score for Berlin Alexanderplatz, the GEMA Music Authors’ Prize for Audiovisual Media, and the Best Music Award at the Cannes International Series Festival for Souls. In 2025, she won the German Film Award for her score in Islands.

She began composing and playing the piano at the age of five and was taught in Composition at the Moscow Music Conservatory as a child. After her family moved to Berlin, Dascha attended at the "Academy for exceptionally gifted children and young people" and was accepted as a young student at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin. She also received composition lessons at the Julius Stern Institute.

In 2006 she began her diploma studies in music theory at the UDK Berlin and subsequently studied in the master’s programme in film music at the Film University in Babelsberg. Dascha has been working as a film composer since 2015, collaborating on numerous feature films and series, including Jibril, Evolution, The Swarm, and Golda (starring Helen Mirren).

Jongnic Bontemps

Jongnic "JB" Bontemps is a uniquely modern film composer who has been tapped by Paramount Pictures to score the blockbuster, sci-fi action movie Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. His score received the inaugural NAACP Image Award for Outstanding TV/Film Score and was nominated for a Hollywood Music in Media Award for Sci/Action Score.  He also scored the Oscar Nominated Short Documentary The Barber of Little Rock directed by John Hoffman and Christine Turner.

His music can be also heard in the Thomas Kail produced Disney + feature film World’s Best, the Netflix Wedding Season, the CW sci-fi series 4400, and the dramatic feature Last Night in Rozzie. He became the go-to composer for director Steven Caple Jr. while scoring his coming-of-age drama The Land. The two then went on to collaborate on the acclaimed film Creed II, for which JB provided rousing additional music. His other projects include the thriller Jagged Mind, The Space Race, and the Arkane Studios video game Redfall and Choir for Disney + and Imagine Documentaries. Jongnic has also collaborated with popular artists NAS, Erykah Badu and Tobe Nwigwe on songs, fashion shows and ballets.

He initially became known for his hip-hop infused score for the Tribeca hit United Skates and has since composed for numerous acclaimed documentaries, including My Name Is Pauli Murray (Critics’ Choice nominee), The People vs. The Klan, Murder to Mercy, and Dance Dreams. His versatile work spans across genres, with scores for feature films, series, and video games such as The Clarke Sisters, Faith Under Fire, Leimert Park, Boomerang, Godfather of Harlem, and the award-winning Call of Duty: WWII.

Brooklyn born, JB learned the piano and soaked up his gospel and jazz surroundings. He studied music at Yale and later found himself at the heart of the tech industry as a software developer and entrepreneur after selling his startup to HP. He thrived there for several years, but eventually decided to pursue his deeper passion and jumped head-first into the film scoring program at USC and the Sundance Film Music Lab.

Michael Abels

Michael Abels is a Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, honored for his opera Omar, whose scores have redefined expectations in both cinema and concert music. His score for Us received the World Soundtrack Award, the Jerry Goldsmith Award, a Critics Choice nomination, and was named "Score of the Decade" by The Wrap. His music for Nope was shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Original Score.

In 2023, Abels composed the score for the Disney+ series Star Wars: The Acolyte and co-wrote the original song "The Power Of Two" with Grammy-winners Victoria Monét and D’Mile. Beyond to his screen work, Abels is an acclaimed concert composer. His works have been performed by the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, the Kronos Quartet, and many others. Recent commissions include Emerge for the National Symphony, the guitar concerto Borders for Grammy-nominated artist Mak Grgic, and Unbound, a symphonic tribute to Olympic champion Jesse Owens. His upcoming projects include commissions for the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, New World Symphony and the Detroit Symphony.

As co-founder of the Composers Diversity Collective, Abels is a leading voice for the increased representation of composers from diverse backgrounds in the film, television, and gaming industries. In 2024, he served as commencement speaker at USC’s Thornton School of Music, inspiring a new generation of artists to follow in his footsteps