My long Covid EP Songs From The Dust is out everywhere from today!
Writing this EP kept me alive in the worst moments of the illness. The story of this music literally is the story of my recovery. I hope you enjoy it.
May and June roundup- BAFTA, BFI and LA Shorts
It’s been quite an eventful few months here. Here’s my latest news.
I am absolutely over the moon to now be a full member of BAFTA! This follows on after serving as a jury member for the BAFTA Craft Awards in the TV: Fiction vategory earlier this year. Huge thank you to Victoria at PrimeTime for sponsoring my application!
Into The Thicket has been selected for Oscar qualifying LA Shorts festival. I’m so proud of this film and director Devany Greenwood! Really can’t wait for this beautiful LGBTQ+ fantasy film to go out into the world.
Finally, the beautiful Realness With A Twist played at the BFI Southbank. It was the first time a film I’ve scored has played at the BFI. Thanks so much to Cass Virdee and David Giles for having me onboard and to Funding Futures for organising the screening. It was a magical afternoon and I’m so grateful to have been able to enjoy all the wonderful films on the most prestigious screen in the UK!
The Haunting Of The Lady Jane cleaning up at VBSIFF Festival
The Haunting Of The Lady Jane, a psychological horror I had the pleasure of scoring last year, has begun its festival run in great style at VBSIFF festival, winning best editor, best director, and best score! This film was a real delight to work on and I’m so happy to see it doing well at festivals before heading to VOD later this year.
2023 Update
It’s been a minute since I remembered to post a blog update, so this will be a bumper offering rounding up 2022 and some of the initial delights of 2023!
Firstly, I’m very proud to say I’ve won Best Original Score for short film Ghosted at White Deer Film Festival. This was a lovely film to score and it’s great to see it doing so well.
Secondly, The Haunting Of The Lady Jane, a feature horror that I scored, will be premiering on Saturday 14th of January at the Horror On Sea festival. Very much looking forward to that one starting its festival circuit.
And lastly False Front, a feature I wrapped up before Christmas, is nearing the end of post production and will be hitting festivals very soon. Watch this space!
A very happy new year to you all.
Herbert And Hilda- The Story
So. I mentioned in the previous post that I’ve become attached to a lot of films, which is very exciting. One of these films I’m particularly excited about. It’s called Herbert and Hilda and is being directed by Jude Yong. Here’s the synopsis: “Herbert and Hilda are a Cameroonian couple in Maryland, USA in 1980. They have a son Plato and Hilda is pregnant. They also have two children at home in Cameroon whom they are contemplating bringing over to the states when Herbert is approached by some agents of the State and is made the proposition of going home as a dark horse candidate to help overthrow the sitting president.” Pretty exciting stuff!
Jude and I had some great initial conversations. He didn’t want anything too “African” in the score, and is looking for something more minimal and ethereal. He’s one of the most astute and interesting directors I’ve had the good fortune to work alongside so far. I knew that even if we weren’t going for an African sound, I wanted to use an instrument from Cameroon to form the backbone of the score. So, I began googling. A few instruments struck me as having potential, but eventually the instrument I decided upon was the mvet, a traditional Cameroonian instrument. I knew I could sample it to make pads but also use it for the melodies, and the resonance and the sound of it are unlike anything I’ve heard before.
This is where things got a bit difficult. I couldn’t find any Western African music shops in the UK. No one seemed to know where I could possibly get one. I went to shops. I sent emails. Nothing. So, I did a social media shout out. Only a few responses came in. Luckily a composer I know was able to put me in touch with a percussionist, who knew another percussionist, who happened to have trained in the UK before returning to his native Cameroon- Steve. Steve suggested trying Paris. I did some searching and emailed some Parisian Luthiers- they had never heard of a mvet. I was starting to despair.
Steve very kindly offered to have a look in Cameroon… and couldn’t find one. The mvet search was beginning to feel like a dead end. I figured if you couldn’t get one in the country it comes from, I’ll never find one in Europe. But then Steve got a lead. He heard their might be one in the Yaounde province in Cameroon, and had a friend there who could look. His friend eventually found a mvet maker. I was ecstatic. They made a case, shipped it to Douala where Steve lives, and Steve bought it on a work trip to Frankfurt last week. He sent it to the UK from there, and it should be arriving here any day now.
Honestly, the whole experience has been a headache. Intercontinental instrument location and delivery has caused a lot of stress, and a lot of tears. I’ve simplified the story a lot here- there were a lot of dramas in between, and the whole thing has taken about 2.5 months (which is ridiculous, I’ve never done so much pre-production on something without writing a single note ever before!) But, I think overall it has been a good experience. I’ve never had so many people come alongside to help pull something like this off before, and I’m so grateful for all the help that strangers have been willing to offer me. I’m so excited and honoured to be able to say I’ll be one of the few people in the West who owns a mvet. Now it just needs to arrive so I can crack on with this score!
Autumn Update
Well, it’s been a little while, and a lot has been happening! I’ve scored/become attached to several films. One of them, Sissy, will have its score released on Spotify in a few weeks time- you can hear it already over on my composer page. Night Of The Screamer has a (scream)ing (or screening if you prefer) at Birmingham Film Festival on November 4th, 6:30, Millennium Point. And the composer page has had a big update, so head over to check out all the new stuff!
BAFTA Crew X BFI Network
I’m very excited to have been accepted to BAFTA Crew X BFI Network 2019! It provides opportunities for mentoring, career development, industry panels, networking, and much more. It’s a fantastic opportunity and I’m very grateful for the chance to be a part of it. More updates on the events soon!
The Bellwether- Distribution!
So at the end of 2017/early 2018 I was working on a project formally known as Joanne, and now called The Bellwether. In VERY EXCITING NEWS it now has distribution from Cardinal XL and Giant Interactive! It will be dropping on North American VOD on the 12th of February, and running in LA between February 15th and 21st at the Arena Cinemalounge.
PLUS it gets a mention in The Hollywood Reporter. Particularly excited about that bit, as it’s the first time a film I’ve scored has been mentioned.
If you’re based in North America and would like to pre-order the film, please click here. If we can get 200 pre-orders, the algorithm will put us in a higher spot, so any support would be much appreciated!
New Releases
Happy new year! I’m pleased to say there are many, many new releases now up on Spotify:
Reunification:
Joy:
Night Of The Screamer:
Subject 256:
… And In The Bleak Midwinter!
I’m also working on a new playlist project- more soon. And, scoring a short documentary called Imperfect Machine.
Hope your new year has started well!
Silent Night is released!
Happy Silent Night release day! This is a re-recorded, re-mixed, re-mastered and generally better version of my single Silent Night from a few years ago. I'm definitely one of those Christmas-only-starts-in-December people, but this year the festivities are starting a little early. Silent Night is now available on Spotify, iTunes, band camp, and all your favourite online music outlets. The Spotify link is https://open.spotify.com/album/6CohFAUeZbNt6koN3eYCuJ…
Ground Rush is out!
The score for Ground Rush is now available through Spotify, iTunes and all those usual music places! If you’d like to hear it, you can go here.
In other news, there will be a new single released on Friday. I’m very excited for this one. Watch this space!
By The Lovely Shores- Online Distribution
By The Lovely Shores is now available on Spotify, iTunes, Tidal and wherever else you’d like to get your music from! You can find it on Spotify here.
More releases are planned for the coming months!
Gig Announcement- Harborne Festival, 1st July, 11:30/13:00
Very pleased to be playing at Harborne Festival on Sunday. My brilliant band will be joining me, so it'll be a pretty cool set. We're playing at 11:30 and 1. There's no entry fee and some brilliant artists are playing during the festival, so come down and make a day of it!
By The Lovely Shores Released!
By The Lovely Shores- EP Launch
EP Launch date announced!
Read moreJoanne Premiere
I recently scored a one-woman feminist feature film called Joanne, written and directed by Christopher Morrison, and it's premiere date has been announced. It will be showing at BIFFF (Brussels International Fantasy Film Festival) on April 10th, 8PM, in Cine3 at the Bozar. Joanne is an ambitious film and I really enjoyed scoring it, so if you're at the festival, go check it out.
More details are at http://www.bifff.net/program/joanne/
Honey Tour
I'm excited to announce that Honey, a new play by Tiffany Hosking, is currently touring. I've worked with Tiff on several productions and am thrilled to have worked with her again on the score for Honey. Check it out at a show near you soon!
Here Is Love Music Video
I'm very excited to share that my first ever music video is here! It's for a song called Here Is Love, and you can access it exclusively through a new app called Twirm. Twirm is seeking to redefine the music industry through artist focused, quality videos, that give everyone a chance to be heard- and gives you the chance to enjoy the best of undiscovered music across the world!
Download Twirm from www.twirm.com or through searching on the app store.
It's been a slightly quiet few months on announcements- but behind the scenes I'm working hard on two shorts, a web series, music library volumes, and a new EP, so there is stuff coming, and I'll share more about all of these projects soon! For now, if you'd like more regular updates, feel free to come find me on social media using the links at the bottom of the page.
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Cups Score
Slightly belatedly- the score for Cups is up! Find it here: https://soundcloud.com/joanna-karselis/sets/cups-score
At the moment I'm busy writing music for a new music library and two shorts, Ground Rush and Death Is Just A Feeling. I'm also working away on the new EP and developing some music videos with a new app called Twirm.
For more regular updates, feel free to follow me on social media using the buttons at the bottom of the page.
Between The Lines
Something new for you- the theme for TV show Between The Lines. I'm super excited for this show. It's currently in pre-production and will be in post towards the end of the year.
In other news, I've just finished scoring a film called Cups. Post-production will be finished in the next few weeks, and I'll share it with you all as soon as it's available!