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Inspiring You to Compose
This international filmscoring contest is for composers of all ages all around the world and to give young composers an even better chance, we split the contest into two age groups.
We know that most beginner composers don’t have great sample libraries or know how to orchestrate well and are therefore discouraged by most competitions to participate. However, we think there is nothing better than a competition to motivate aspiring composers to create.
Welcome to the
INDIE FILM MUSIC CONTEST
A COMPETITION, FOCUSING ON MUSICAL STORYTELLING WHILE IGNORING SOUND QUALITY TO GIVE BEGINNERS A FAIR CHANCE TO COMPETE.
![](https://indiefilmmusiccontest.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Design-ohne-Titel-1024x576.png)
Summer 2024 Semi-Finalists
The difference in number of finalists per category is due cause by submission with the ratings.
Shopping Trip – Young
Christian Won
Davide Moretti
Fabian Roesler
Grace Nassar
Julien Claudon
Kevin Chen
Luca Prioriello
Marc Cantos Ballester
Nickolas Wolfe
Paul GARCIA-SANCHEZ
Sean Collins
Shane Common
Tosca Lavaroni
Yiran Zhang
Ze Cavaco
Shopping Trip – Standard
Abenicio Casias
Conrad Van Breda
Dannian Shu
Dominique Cheng
Fabio Conti
Franziska Helmrath
Gakenia Mucharie
Jordan Addison
Mikhail Talanov
Minjun Lee
Pascal Coppé
Paul Baptistat
Sava Plukhooii
Tad Davis
Timo Rieger
Victor Xue
Viktorija Kukule
Shift – Young
Abhay Barhate
Andreas Meienberg
Anping Chen
Charles Gai-ho Lee
Enrico Mangia
Jasur Cosby
Jeev Thomas
Joel Jacob Mathew
Jonas Kerda
Kaden Baldwin
Karson Baumgartner
Lalia Suescun
Megan Hingson
Pannita Mamanee
Tímea Siquet
Viacheslav Butikov
Vojtěch Kratochvíl
Shift – Standard
Aivars Lietaunieks
Alex Poelman
Brad Marks
Bradley Moorer
Dario Comparetto
Ea-Ling Seun
HAELIN LEE
Jay Lemon
Jenna Kavouras
Joao Moreira
Josef Sjöblom
Joseph Barrett
Joseph Bartolozzi
Joshua Nathan
Maxime Simon
Monika Kochanowicz
Sava Plukhooii
Thanos Vichos
Tsz Ying Law
Victor Xue
What makes this Contest Special
We won’t judge by criteria like mixing and mastering or the quality of the sound. If you only have a piano and your phone to record it, or a free orchestral library, you stand the same chances as someone with thousand dollars worth of orchestra libraries and experience in orchestrating.
We focus only on the creative ideas you use to tell the story of this film with your music.
Important Dates
Registration May 17th – July 26th, 2024
Submission Deadline August 2nd, 2024, 8 pm CET
Semi-Finalists September 10th, 2024, 6 pm CET
Finalists September 13th, 2024, 6 pm CET
Winner Announcement September 20th, 2024, 6 pm CET
Important Dates
Registration
May 17th – July 26th, 2024
Submission Deadline
August 2nd, 2024, 8 pm CET
Semi-Finalists
September 6th, 2024, 6 pm CET
Finalists
September 13th, 2024, 6 pm CET
Winner Announcement
September 20th, 2024, 6 pm CET
PRIZES to be announced
18.000€+ IN PRIZES
A total of 9 winners will win cash prizes and
high-quality audio libraries courtesy of our sponsors:
Our Judges
We are proud to announce that our judges evaluate every single one of your submissions compared to other film scoring competitions where the initial evaluation is done by a different panel. They also won’t be able to know who’s submission they’re evaluating to make any conscious or unconscious discrimination impossible.
![](https://indiefilmmusiccontest.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/David-Bertok-2-MConverter.eu_-1024x1024.webp)
David Bertok
Composer of the award-winning feature films “Peace by Chocolate” and “Botero”, David Bertok writes for…
more
![](https://indiefilmmusiccontest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Yiren-Wang-Kopie-scaled-e1683652681154-1002x1024.jpg)
Yiren Wang
is a composer, conductor, and pianist based in Shanghai, China. Recently, Yiren scored…
more
![](https://indiefilmmusiccontest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/BIO-PIC-1-1-scaled-e1702313955853-1024x1024.webp)
Jon-Joseph Nepaul
Jon-Joseph Nepaul is an Award Winning Composer and Music Producer. He is known for his …
more
![](https://indiefilmmusiccontest.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Cath-Headshot-1-e1721058224792-1024x1024.jpg)
Catherine Joy
Originally all the way from Tasmania, Australia, Catherine Joy is a composer, music producer, …
more
![](https://indiefilmmusiccontest.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/JT-Studio-11-16-2022-v2.0-4-1024x1024.webp)
Jeff Tinsley
Jeff has enjoyed numerous opportunities as a composer to collaborate on a wide variety of notable…
more
![](https://indiefilmmusiccontest.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GeorgeShaw_16-A-A-2021Headshot-1-scaled-e1720546354895-1024x1024.webp)
George Shaw
George’s origin story began with a childhood of exposure to Saturday morning cartoons, superhero comics, …
more
![](https://indiefilmmusiccontest.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Lolita-155-Version-3-copy-4-2-1024x1024.jpg)
Lolita Ritmanis
Lolita Ritmanis is an Emmy award winning composer. She has been nominated 10 times, and…
more
![](https://indiefilmmusiccontest.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/David-Bertok-2-MConverter.eu_-1024x1024.webp)
David Bertok
Composer of the award-winning feature films “Peace by Chocolate” and “Botero”, David Bertok writes for…
more
![](https://indiefilmmusiccontest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Yiren-Wang-Kopie-scaled-e1683652681154-1002x1024.jpg)
Yiren Wang
is a composer, conductor, and pianist based in Shanghai, China. Recently, Yiren scored…
more
![](https://indiefilmmusiccontest.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/ES-headshot-2.jpg)
Eric Schmidt
For the past three decades, Eric has been one of the busiest freelance composers in Los Angeles…
more
![](https://indiefilmmusiccontest.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/JT-Studio-11-16-2022-v2.0-4-1024x1024.webp)
Jeff Tinsley
Jeff has enjoyed numerous opportunities as a composer to collaborate on a wide variety of notable…
more
![](https://indiefilmmusiccontest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Vidjay-Portret-1-1-1024x1024.jpeg)
Vidjay Beerepoot
Vidjay Beerepoot has a gift for seeing the world through someone else’s eyes, and that power—to relate and…
more
![](https://indiefilmmusiccontest.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/SherriChung-10-scaled-e1706209812383-1024x1024.webp)
Sherri Chung
Award-winning composer Sherri Chung has been recognized internationally as a trailblazing…
more
![David Bertok](https://indiefilmmusiccontest.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/David-Bertok-2-MConverter.eu_.webp)
![Yiren Wang](https://indiefilmmusiccontest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Yiren-Wang-Kopie-scaled-e1683652681154.jpg)
![Jeff Tinsley](https://indiefilmmusiccontest.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/JT-Studio-11-16-2022-v2.0-4.webp)
![Jon-Joseph Nepaul](https://indiefilmmusiccontest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/BIO-PIC-1-1-scaled-e1702313955853.webp)
![George Shaw](https://indiefilmmusiccontest.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GeorgeShaw_16-A-A-2021Headshot-1-scaled-e1720546354895.webp)
![Catherine Joy](https://indiefilmmusiccontest.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Cath-Headshot-1-e1721058224792.jpg)
![David Bertok](https://indiefilmmusiccontest.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/David-Bertok-2-MConverter.eu_.webp)
![Yiren Wang](https://indiefilmmusiccontest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Yiren-Wang-Kopie-scaled-e1683652681154.jpg)
![Eric Schmidt](https://indiefilmmusiccontest.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/ES-headshot-2.jpg)
![Jeff Tinsley](https://indiefilmmusiccontest.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/JT-Studio-11-16-2022-v2.0-4.webp)
![Jon-Joseph Nepaul](https://indiefilmmusiccontest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/BIO-PIC-1-1-scaled-e1702313955853.webp)
![Sherri Chung](https://indiefilmmusiccontest.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/SherriChung-10-scaled-e1706209812383.webp)
Individual Feedback
If you want to, the judges will give you personal, individual feedback.
When writing the individual feedback the judges will put in much more time than just judging your submission. Therefore, and since these are highly skilled professionals that deserve to be compensated accordingly, it involves an additional fee and you’ll receive feedback from only one of the judges but it will be thorough and look something like this.
REGISTER
Registration is currently closed.
It will open again in November for the Winter 2024 Contest.
See the details and choose the contest you would like to enter:
What Participants are saying:
Get a personal Participation Certificate ...
… that can be verified by anyone to provide proof of your participation and ranking.
![](https://indiefilmmusiccontest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Bildschirmfoto-2023-05-08-um-13.30.43-1024x721.png)
Get Two Films to score ...
… immediately after you register, including a brief from the director on what he’s expecting of the music to mimic a realistic film scoring experience.
Choose to score an award winning animated or a live-action short film or just both!
More about the films
… immediately after you register, including sound effects tracks to mimic a realistic film scoring experience.
There is one animation and one live-action short film dedicated to each of the Young and the Standard division. You can therefore only submit two of them but you’ll get access to all three! More about the films
![](https://indiefilmmusiccontest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Bildschirmfoto-2023-05-08-um-13.11.55-997x1024.jpeg)
Get Detailed Statistics ...
… about where you placed in the different evaluation criteria and how you compare to others.
Share your submission anywhere online ...
… as soon as you finish it. There is no need to wait until the competition is over. You’re allowed to share your music with any of the films and use them in your portfolio!
The participant with the most likes on their YouTube video is even awarded the Popularity Prize.
View Details & Register
Registration is currently closed.
It will open again in November for the Winter 2024 Contest.
See the details and choose the contest you would like to enter:
Also interested in Scoring Video Games?
Visit out Brand New Video Game Scoring Competition:
FAQs
For several reasons explained below, we unfortunately can’t show you the films before registering.
However, if you honestly don’t like any of the films after registering, you can just contact us within five days and we’ll be happy to send you a refund! Therefore there’s no risk for you.
Just send us an email with your order number at: films@indiefilmmusiccontest.com and we’ll send the refund within 24h.
We had the experience that many people just use the preview film to work on their score. The problem with that is that they are technically not allowed to do this by the people who give us the rights to use these films. These rights holders are generally very protective of their rights and were not exactly happy about the films being used by non-participants so we want to avoid this from happening again. Since we are dependent on cooperating with them to keep providing you with good quality films to score we, unfortunately, can’t show the films before you register anymore.
Moreover, as the contest is growing in numbers and attention, we just need to be generally more careful in legal matters especially concerning copyright which is a very complicated topic that we’re no experts on. So we’re rather a little bit too careful than to be liable for any copyright infringements which could cause the contest to end permanently.
However, we spent a lot of time handpicking these films for you and we are sure that there is at least one film in our selection that you’ll be able to work with. Furthermore, it’s only realistic to not be able to choose what project you work on, and trying something you haven’t done before can push you in new creative directions. Also, our surveys said that a big part of the participants actually likes the surprise.
This time we have a total of four films for you available. There is one live-action and one animated short film for each of the Young and the Standard divisions. This means you can only compete with two of them but you get access to all four so you can practice. There is also the possibility that we use one of the films again in the other division in case it is very popular and there are enough people who also want to use it to compete and not only to practice.
The films for the two divisions are not the same anymore to better distinguish those two competitions. This way the evaluation of a Young submission can’t be compared to and therefore possibly influenced by a Standard submission.
Yes. We use PayPal for all our payment processing so whether you use a PayPal account to pay or a credit card you can pay using any currency which will then be converted to Euro. PayPal will show you the exact amount it will be in your currency when you click on “Complete Registration” or the PayPal button.
The fee is split into three parts the Base Fee which you only have to pay once, the Entry Fee for each Entry you want to submit, and the Feedback Fee for each feedback you want to receive.
Entry and Submission basically mean the same thing. For each additional entry, you can submit one more film with your music. For each additional feedback, one of your submissions will get feedback so if you have 2 entries for example and 1 feedback, one of your submissions will get feedback but the other one not.
When you later submit your film there is a box that you can check to decide if you want to receive feedback for that submission and you can also see on that page how many entries/submissions you have left and how many you can still use.
You can also always add other entries and feedback later.
After the competition, you will now receive a verifiable certificate with your placement in the competition.
Verifiable means that there is a code on the certificate that can be entered on our website which will then verify its authenticity. So you can easily prove that you successfully entered the competition and achieved a specific placement and anyone who sees your certificate (if you put it on your website for example) can confirm that it’s real.
The reason why we can not make it free for you is that there are 5 Judges and our team that put a lot of time and work into this and we think everyone in this industry agrees that working for free is not cool. Especially our highly qualified judges deserve appropriate compensation.
In addition to that, there are costs like website hosting and development, marketing, the cash prizes, etc. All of this is quite expensive and there is no other company behind this that can use it as marketing for their brand/products or something.
The money needs to come somewhere so we have to charge everyone a fee to participate but because of this, we are only dedicated to making this contest the best possible experience for everyone that we think is worth the cost and we don’t have to pursue any other goals under which the quality of the contest could suffer like any free competition!
This for example also allows us to offer you opportunities like the personal feedback which you won’t get in any other competition. Moreover, we guarantee that every submission is evaluated by our judges and not by any other inexperienced panel which is done in most competitions to lower the costs.
If you can not afford it that’s ok and we understand that. We just hope that you can also understand that we too can not afford to make it free even though everyone deserves to compete.
We’re also trying to find ways to lower our costs so we can lower the fee for you in the future. So if you can’t participate this time maybe it will be possible the next time.
If you are currently 23 years or older, join the standard competition. If you are currently under the age of 23 you can choose which one you would like to join. The young one has fewer participants and therefore less competition but the standard one has slightly better prizes. In the rare case that you are 22 now but turn 23 until the winners are announced you are also allowed to choose and the moment you register will count.
You can find the winners of our previous contests on this page: https://indiefilmmusiccontest.com/previous-competitions/
We’re hosting the competition twice a year with one summer and one winter edition.
The “Indie” is short for independent. The contest is for independent film composers and it also is independently organized which means that there is no other company behind this. We’re hosting the contest just for its own sake with no other motives.
After you registered go on your account page and click on the “Contest” button. Then you will be redirected to your contest page. There you’ll find instructions for the contest including the download link. This is also where you can submit your composition and find the results after the competition ends.
You can also just click on this link (https://indiefilmmusiccontest.com/submission/) but be aware that if you’re not logged in and haven’t registered already you’ll be redirected to the registration page.
Everyone who registered with the feedback option will be able to see the feedback in their accounts the moment we announce the winners of the competition.
Currently, our system only allows it to get one feedback for each submission.
Still open questions? Contact us at:
support@indiefilmmusiccontest.com
Contact Us
We’re here for you. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to contact us at: support@indiefilmmusiccontest.com