Film Score for Documentary ‘The Journalist and Her Jailers’

Overall, the film score is rather dark and minimal. It has several facets: from synthetic drones, to washed-out pads or heavy, dark pianos, to rough string sounds.

At the same time, the music in the film develops slowly, analogously to the speed of the process and the transformation of the protagonist. It goes from initially almost static intervals to more and more moving realms. Dreamlike and disturbing sounds are often found in the animations. Or intentionally detuned string quartets ring out in the horrific images of the war against one's own people.

All in all, the result was a thoughtful, solemn, often melancholic film music that is characterized by the seriousness of the subject, but also conveys hope at crucial points in the film.

In addition to the film music, the complete sound layer was also created for the animations. Because the film score and the sound design for the animations come from a single source, both levels could be perfectly coordinated here.

Elements of the noise level, such as. e.g. a heartbeat that is getting louder and louder, are rhythmically and tonally integrated into the music. The film music and the sound design of the animations merge here and often in other places.

"The Journalist and Her Jailers" ("Luna und die Gerechtigkeit") is the winner of the ARD documentary film competition "TopDocs" and will be broadcasted on October 26th on ARD. After the broadcast, the film will be available in the ARD Mediathek.