Event review written by Mladen Radić for the journal Glas Istre / The Voice of Istria, published on the 25th of July 2023
Michael Minkler: “This event is like at the Oscars”
It rarely happens that the Pula Arena is visited by Oscar winners, but it happened again on Sunday evening thanks to the International Film Music and Sound Festival (ISFMF), which organized a screening of Peter Jackson’s legendary, 11-Oscar-winning film “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King”.
Because of that film and the accompanying ceremony, Oscar winners Michael Minkler and Mark Ulano arrived in Pula, who presented his friend with the Crystal Pine Award for Lifetime Achievement. The famous composer Howard Shore, who won two of the three Oscars for the music on “The Return of the King”, was supposed to come to Pula, but he was prevented due to his work in progress on David Cronenberg’s new film.
Impressive careers
All three were also presented through short films that showed how impressive their careers were. Howard Shore composed the music for films such as “Seven”, “The Silence of the Lambs”, “Philadelphia”, “Gangs of New York”, “King Kong” or “The Departed”. Minkler won Oscars for his work on “Chicago,” “Dreamgirls” and “Black Hawk Down” and was nominated for such films as “Inglourious Basterds” “JFK”, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”, and was even nominated 13 times for this prestigious award. After Ulano won the Oscar in 1997 for “Titanic”, he was nominated three more times for the films “Ad Astra”, “Inglourious Basterds” and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”.
In the short film for Shore, it is said that this composer not only had the difficult task of bringing to life the landscape and cultures of Middle-earth in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, but also of telling a story that slowly develops over the 11 hours of the film, and his music that he composed for the trilogy can can be compared to Wagner’s operas.
As he could not come to the Arena, Shore thanked by sending a recorded video, saying that he wished he was in Pula to celebrate the 20th anniversary of “The Return of the King”, adding that the ISFMF has become one of the most important film music and sound festivals in the world, which is why gladly accepted this award.
– I would very much like to be with you in Croatia and support this edition of the ISFMF, said Shore.
That’s why Mark Ulano was in Pula the night before last and said: “It’s incredible to be in a place where people have been having fun for two thousand years, thank you very much, from the bottom of my heart.” Ulano won an Oscar for the sound of the movie “Titanic” directed by James Cameron.
Collaboration with Tarantino
– We are filmmakers, our passion is to tell a story with our instrument, which is sound. Michael Minkler is one of the greatest artists in our field, and I was incredibly lucky to work with him on 11 projects. His magical touch contributed to the quality of each of those soundscapes on which I worked with him, said Ulano, who noted that he had the good fortune to collaborate with Quentin Tarantino since the movie “Jackie Brown” about 20 years ago, and that collaboration enabled Ulan to dedicate himself to the work he loves with the people he loves, and Minkler is among them. “When you experience a film for which the sound was mixed by Minkler, then it is always at least 150 percent of his heart and soul that he invested in that experience. He is a maestro of telling a story through sound in a film,” said Ulano.
After the film about Minkler was shown, he went on stage.
– This was very humbling to watch, said Minkler after the screening of the film with clips from the films he worked on, and it was all about big movie hits. “Sound is my life and I was lucky to connect early with some great people, great directors. George Lucas told me to go against all the rules, Oliver Stone told me to mix with heart and emotion, and for Tarantino sound and music is just as important in telling a story as pictures and actors. It’s wonderful to work with Tarantino because sound is very important to him. Working with such masters is the joy of my life, and now I have this award. This is like being at the Oscars. It’s real and it’s scary,” Minkler commented, earning a round of applause.
A perfect experience
As was the case last year at the screening of “Gladiator”, this year the Arena was filled with fans of film spectacles, some of whom must have already seen this Jackson film, but watching a film like this under the stars in the Pula amphitheater is a special story. This year, too, a technically perfect copy was shown, with clear and pure colors and, what is especially important in this case, with crystal clear sound, which was especially evident in the battle scenes.
The audience immersed themselves in the film and responded with applause to scenes like the one when King Theoden receives a message that Gondor needs help in the upcoming battle and calmly says “And Rohan will answer”. Such stories about good and evil and something else went down well with the audience, especially if they were filmed so spectacularly.
After the ceremonial introduction, the audience had no problem watching another three and a half hours of the film, the screening of which was accompanied by applause, and the entire event is due to the hard-working trio consisting of ISFMF artistic director Ozren K. Glaser, Marijana Knezoci and producer Željko Glaser. The program was led by the Istrian singer-songwriter Elis Lovrić, who did a great job in this role this year as well, and it was no problem for her to speak in Croatian and English with a bit of her Labinian-Rabjan accent.
Annie Lennox: “Next summer I will sing in the Pula Arena”
As a surprise, the message for Howard Shore and ISFMF was also recorded by the famous Annie Lennox, one half of the popular duo Eurhytmics and later a successful solo artist who performed Shore’s Oscar-winning song “Ino the west” from “The Return of the King”. As Elis Lovrić told the audience, in a conversation with Ozren K. Glaser, Lennox promised that she would sing in the Pula Arena next year, if she was invited.
In the message she sent, she praised Shore. “Twenty years have passed. Do you remember our crazy conversations between London, Australia and New York? I think the song we did turned out pretty well. I congratulate you from the bottom of my heart, I think you really deserve this extremely big honor and lifetime recognition. Best regards and all the best to everyone, enjoy the rest of the evening,” said Annie Lennox.
