Film Music Judith Gruber-Stitzer

04/17/2026

Tis a lovely time! For a film composer, having a back to back trio of singularly gorgeous films to score within a 6 month period rarely happens. ERI, by Honami Yano, the second of these gems, has just been accepted into the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight. Koji Yamamura, the producer, and Honami were dream collaborators for me and going to Tokyo for the final mix was the cherry on this cinematic sundae. A big thanks to voice actor Bob Olivier, film music mixer Francois Arbour, sound editor Masumi Takino and re-recording mixers Shelley Craig and Pierre Yves Drapeau. I'm so happy that ERI is being recognized for the beauty that it is!

03/15/2026

Well, I watched and listened and considered and then voted. There were some wonderful films this year. Good luck to one and all! I look forward to watching the show on Sunday night with some pals.

01/16/2026

Film Music Musings: I’m a big fan of Paul Thomas Anderson’s films. His generosity towards Robert Altman years ago won my heart and his keen sense of how music can be used in film has repeatedly garnered my admiration. From Aimee Mann’s songs in ‘Magnolia’, to Jon Brion’s score for ‘Punch Drunk Love’ that featured Harry Neilson’s songs from Altman’s ‘Popeye’, Anderson’s films can be seen by listening. The mixes of his films are unabashedly punchy, musical, rhythmic and bolder than most directors dare. Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood has composed unabashedly opinionated oundtracks for Anderson’s recent films with his score for ‘One Battle After Another’ resting amongst his best work. If you haven’t seen it yet, eyes closed or open, this soundtrack is a treat!

04/22/2025

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sk4hv30RkA8

The magnificent Oscar winning animator Joan Gratz has just made her film 'No Leaders Please' available on YouTube. Scoring this film was pure joy for me. I felt like my job was to stay out of the way of her extraordinary animation. It was dreamy working on this little gem.

An animated film based on the by Charles Bukowski. Paintings inspired by Basquiat,Banksy, Haring, and Weiwei represent the poem's theme of self-invention and...

04/06/2025

Like many, I have been a great fan of Cristobal Tapia de Veer’s music for ‘White Lotus’. It was so unabashedly out there and mixed so very loudly, I had assumed that Mike White, the show’s creator, had a great relationship with Cristobal and faith in the soundtrack, which was described as taking the role of a character in the show. The director Paul Thomas Anderson had shown a similar fearlessness and confidence in Jon Brion’s score for ‘Punch Drunk Love’ because he let the music be mixed front and centre, as though it was the score for an action film. I was very impressed by that audacity and felt that the same dynamic was happening between Mike White and Cristobal in ‘White Lotus’.

Well, I was very wrong. Most unusually, Cristobal has come out quite publicly in a NYTimes interview saying that White always hated the music and by extension, the composer. Considering the creator’s issues with the soundtrack, it’s remarkable that it remained intact for seasons 1 and 2. It’s worth noting that the scores received 3 Emmys and most unusually for a TV series score, became an international hit. As a film composer, this is quite an extraordinary ‘outing’ of what is usually behind-the-scenes drama in sound post production.

02/18/2025

Considering all that is going on in the world, the Oscars feel like a small welcome distraction. Good luck to one and all!

01/20/2025

There were some extraordinary films this year, like 'Nickel Boys' and 'Emilia Perez'. Good luck to one and all!

11/28/2024

Tis time to begin voting for the preliminary round of Oscar award preselections. Good luck to one and all!

10/11/2024

When starting a new soundtrack, I often slip out of Montreal to the Eastern Townships of Quebec. My mini work station has all that I need for the preliminary stages of production and what I see out the window gives me all the rest.

08/23/2024

A Snowden-Fine National Film Board of Canada film that I scored, Animal Behaviour, will be playing at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science museum's fabulous state-of-the-art theatre. I would love to hear how it sounds there. Maybe I should move to L.A. 🙂

Guest speaker: Introduction by director Chris Wedge. Selected by the Animation Branch. A wooly mammoth, a saber-toothed tiger, and a sloth make an unlikely trio of prehistoric travelers in this computer-animated comedy directed by Chris Wedge, an Oscar winner for his 1998 short Bunny. Ray Romano, De...