FIVE COMPOSERS WHOSE NAMES YOU SHOULD KNOW

1. NAINITA DESAI

Desai’s understated score for harrowing documentary For Sama helped negotiate the film’s vérité reportage, while her emotionally intelligent music for The Reason I Jump bridged the gap between the mathematical and the spiritual. Working across film, TV and video games, the hugely in-demand composer’s future projects include The Teacher, from Oscar-nominated filmmaker Farah Nabulsi. If Desai doesn’t have her own Oscar nod by the decade’s end, I will eat Werner Herzog’s shoe!

2. EMILIE LEVIENAISE-FARROUCH

From the spine-tingling romance of Harry Wootliff’s Only You to the sensory horrors of Prano Bailey-bond’s Censor, Londonbased French composer/pianist Levienaise-farrouch has made her mark in ground-breaking British independent cinema. Other credits range from British teen-gem Rocks to Dutch war movie The Forgotten Battle — a mark of the diverse talents that have made her a Scala favourite.

3. DIE HEXEN

Irish filmmaker Dianne Lucille Campbell composes under the name DIE HEXEN, creating soundscapes for short films like Am I Dead and El Hor, which combine the avant-garde energy of mid-’70s Euro-horror, the ghosts of Penderecki, and the adventurous spirit of Mica Levi. The rising star recently scored Jon Beer’s Academy Award-longlisted short Saul & I, and Kate Dolan’s Irish folk horror You Are Not My Mother.

4. ASKA MATSUMIYA

Osaka-born, Malibu-based composer Matsumiya (aka ASKA) first caught my attention through the short Clavadista — a film I only know through its soundtrack! In features, her credits include Tayarisha Poe’s Sundance hit Selah And The Spades (“Clueless meets The Godfather”), where ASKA’S brilliantly off-kilter cues work in perfect harmony with the layered sound design. More recently, she’s scored Julia Hart’s I’m Your Woman and Kogonada’s After Yang.

5. HUTCH DEMOUILPIED

Demouilpied’s sparse, spinetingling cues contributed hugely to the emotional impact of Hope Dickson Leach’s tremendous feature debut The Levelling. Combining plaintive keyboards with low strings, processed voices, wind instruments and even a musical saw, Demouilpied conjured physical sounds that seemed to bubble up from the soil. More recently, she scored Ben Sharrock’s acclaimed feature Limbo, and is currently working on Elizabeth Hobbs’ animation The Debutante.