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100 Years of Movie Music

And the winner is... to be announced in June. The American Film Institute is continuing its centenary celebration of celluloid with "100 Years... 100 Songs." Meanwhile, Turner Classic Movies seeks budding film composers, and one director shares her list of "top rock movies."

Since 1998 the AFI, a leading force behind the preservation of old films and education about the film industry, has been using "top 100" lists to highlight the history of film. Its "100 Year" series has previously spotlighted romance, comedy, heroes & villains, and top movies.

This year they will assemble a jury of 1,500 actors, directors, screenwriters, critics, and other film experts to determine the 100 best film songs from a list of 400 nominees.

To create the list of contenders, "We chose songs that filmmakers used to help tell their stories," said an AFI director. The list includes 12 songs by Bing Crosby, 9 featuring Judy Garland, and 8 featuring Barbra Streisand. The 1950s was the best-represented decade, providing 67 of the 400 nominees.

More recent representatives include Bruce Springsteen's "Philadelphia," "Flash Dance," "Hakuna Matata" (and other Disney tunes), "Ghostbusters," South Park's "Blame Canada," and U2's "The Hands that Built America."

Keep your ears open for a June special on the CBS television network.

Visit the AFI's site and learn about the "100 Songs" competition

Download a Microsoft Excel file containing a searchable & sortable list of the 400 nominees. [coming soon!]

Cable movie network Turner Classic Movies (TCM) has announced its 5th annual Young Film Composers Competition, sponsored in conjunction with Film Music Magazine and the Guitar Center.

According to the TCM competition web site, "For those who live to make music, this is a unique opportunity for young composers to bring their musical vision to film. The winner of last year's competition, 27 year old Linda Martinez from Los Angeles recently scored the 1925 silent film The Rag Man, which will premiere on TCM on January 30, 2004 at 8:00 p.m. (ET)."

"In addition to The Rag Man, Turner Classic Movies has more than 100 silent films in its library that have not been seen since their theatrical debut, as they were originally performed with live musical accompaniment. It is our ongoing initiative to add music to these historic films, which deserve to be seen by a new generation of filmgoers. It is also a wonderful opportunity for young film composers to create a motion picture score."

"Artists between the ages of 18-35 are eligible to compete in our 5th Annual Young Film Composers Competition and may select one of the silent film clips to score from our web site. A select team of industry professionals, including Elmer Bernstein, will mentor the Grand Prize winner through the entire scoring process, culminating in the recording of the winning composition that may air on Turner Classic Movies."

Learn more about TCM's Film Composers competition

In a recent issue of Entertainment Weekly, actor Jack Black (now starring in "School of Rock") cited mock-umentary "This is Spinal Tap" (1984) as the "perfect rock movie." But director Penelope Spheeris ("The Decline of Western Civilization") provided a different "top 10" of rock movies:

Quadrophenia (1979)
A Hard Day's Night (1964)
The Harder they Come (1973)
The Decline of Western Civilization (1981)
The Commitments (1991)
Jailhouse Rock (1957)
Purple Rain (1984)
Yellow Submarine (1968)
That'll be the Day (1973)
Ladies and Gentleman, the Fabulous Stains (1982)

Explore more about the "perfect rock movie" and all other films at the Internet Movie Database (IMDB), which also includes bios (for example, of Penelope Spheeris)