The Flying Sailor * Zurich Film Festival 2024

An old sailor is walking across a pier when two ships collide. The transport ship catches fire and explodes in a gigantic explosion. The sailor, who had just lit a cigarette, is caught in the explosion and as he flies through the air, his life passes him by until he seemingly dissolves into nothingness. He then returns to his naked body and falls to the ground again. He crashes to the ground. His eyes fall on a dead fish. The sailor miraculously survived the disaster. He puffs on his still-burning cigarette.
The International Film Music Competition will take place for the twelfth time as part of the 20th Zurich Film Festival (October 3rd to 13th, 2024). The International Film Music Competition is organized once a year by the Zurich Film Festival and the Tonhalle-Gesellschaft Zürich AG in collaboration with the Film Music Forum. Film composers are asked to write their own score for a specific short film.
This year you have to submit a symphony orchestra score for the competition film THE FLYING SAILOR. The short film by Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby is about the largest accidental explosion in history following the collision of two ships in Halifax Harbor in 1917. It is an exhilarating meditation on the few seconds of a life and a celebration of the wonder and fragility of life His.