News

 

Frankelda’s Book of Spooks: Season 1 Soundtrack

WaterTower has released the soundtrack for the Latin America Max Original production series Frankelda’s Book of Spooks featuring original music by composer and multi-instrumentalist Kevin Smithers. The soundtrack features a musical palette filled with orchestra, theremin, soloist instruments and haunting vocal performances. Stand out songs on the album include Invisible Ink, You Can Transform and Out of the Dark.

 

FALL 2023 SCREENCRAFT VIRTUAL PITCH SEMIFINALIST

Kevin’s drama/horror pilot, Liam’s List, has been selected as a semifinalist in ScreenCraft’s virtual pitch competition.

Listed below are the Semifinalists of the Fall 2023 ScreenCraft Virtual Pitch. These exceptional screenplays were selected from almost 700 submissions. Congratulations to the writers who have made it this far…

 

2023 Screencraft animation competition quarter-finalists

Kevin’s animated musical pilot “From the Stars” has been short listed as a quarterfinalist in this year’s Screencraft Animation Competition. These exceptional screenplays were selected from almost 1,000 submissions…

 

2022 ISFMF Winners

The International Sound and Film Music Festival presented Kevin Smithers with their Crystal Pine award in the “Best Song” category for his work on Frankelda’s Book of Spooks (HBO Max) Season 1 this Sunday.

 

International Sound and Film Music Festival 2022

Kevin’s work on HBO Max’s Frankelda’s Book of Spooks has been nominated by the ISFMS in the “Best Original Score, Series or Limited Series” & “Best Song” categories.

The mission of the International Sound & Film Music Festival (ISFMF) is the promotion and preservation of film music as an irreplaceable element of film which is a great art itself, as well as the film sound.

 

Kevin is now represented by talent agency, Air-Edel

Air-Edel is an all encompassing music company. We provide representation for composers, music editors, music supervisors and key creative talent with our own studio facilities, music publishing and record company.

 

2nd Annual F.M.M. Symposium

Stories have the opportunity for international reach. This panel will explore how composers uplift stories that appealed to audiences in the U.S. and beyond, as well as share their unique journeys and perspectives. Join Kevin Smithers, Sandro Morales Santoro, Dan Zlotnik, Camilo Froideval and Wei-San Hsu .

 

Berlinale Talents 20th Edition: The talents of 2022

Kevin has been invited to be part of this year’s Berlinale Talents program.

Berlinale Talents is celebrating its 20th birthday. Since 2003, the Berlinale’s multidisciplinary talent initiative has grown to nearly 10,000 alumni and has actively shaped the industry with this community of thirteen film trades.”

 

‘Frankelda’s Book of Spooks’: Cool New Stop-Motion from Mexico

“When we discussed the idea of turning that little pilot into a whole series, we realized that we needed more of a cinematographic quality in the sound and image,” says Arturo. “And immediately we gravitated toward Kevin. I think the music is one of the most important characteristics of this series.”

 

Interview with “Los Sustos Ocultos de Frankelda” composer Kevin Smithers - Vents Magazine

Kevin Smithers took on the role as composer and songwriter to expertly develop each episode’s musical journey. Impressively, Frankelda was produced with a 100% Mexican crew. He is also working on Cinema Fantasma’s first feature film, La Balada del Fenix.

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Music Composers-Formed Diversity Collective Releases New Album

The Composers Diversity Collective, which represents composers of diverse backgrounds working in visual media, this week releases an album showcasing the music of a dozen of its members. Listen to Kevin’s piece “Crossed Paths” now!

 
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Sundance Film Music in Animation Intensive

Kevin was one of four composers invited to participate in Sundance’s Film Music in Animation Intensive. Each composer was paired with a filmmaker to workshop their project and received mentorship by industry professionals including Christophe Beck, Chris Lord, Germaine Franco, Julia Pott & Arturo Rodríguez.

 
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Short Cuts 2019 (The Best of Original Short Motion Picture Shorts)

MovieScore Media opens the new year with Short Cuts 2019, the follow-up to the label’s highly successful initiative to collect together the most memorable short film scores of each year. The 2019 selection is headlined by such as fan favourites as Academy Award winner Rachel Portman (Archie), Christopher Young (Fanboy), Bear McCreary (The Toll Road) and Joe Kraemer (The Wound), alongside composers Kevin Smithers (Monster Island), Pantawit Kiangsiri (Winter Olympic Dream), Rob Simonsen (In the Time it Takes to Get There)…

 
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Jerry Goldsmith Award nominations are out!

Kevin’s score for the film “Bruised” has been nominated for a Jerry Goldsmith Award in the Best Score for a Short Film category. Film Music Festival presents annually its Jerry Goldsmith Awards, internationally consolidated after acquiring a deserved popularity among artists and fans.

 
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BMI Mentors Emerging Composers Through its 22nd Annual Conducting Workshop

Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) celebrated the 22nd annual Conducting Workshop for Visual Media Composers with a final scoring session at Nathan Barr's Bandrika Studios in Tarzana, California on August 24. The workshop provided eight rising composers the chance to hone their conducting skills under the direction of award-winning conductor and composer Lucas Richman.

 
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BMI Conducting Workshop for Visual Media

BMI has announced the selected participants for its 22nd annual Conducting Workshop for Visual Media Composers, led by BMI Classic Contribution Award winner, conductor and composer Lucas Richman. Beginning August 13, the elite group will spend two weeks sharpening their conducting skills to music written by BMI film composing legends such as Jerry Goldsmith and John Williams.

 
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SESAC Scores Workshop - The Beck Diversity program

Kevin was invited to the upcoming SESAC Scores workshop with Christophe Beck and Danny Lux. The Beck Diversity Project is a five-year mentorship and grant program designed to make a meaningful impact on the historically low number of women and people of color hired in the film composer community.

 
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Scoring Animation - Behind the Scenes

Check out Kevin’s scoring session for Don’t Croak, Knitcromancer & Bruised.

 
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THE PEOPLE’S ORCHESTRA PERFORMS WORLD WAR TOONS SUITE

Game On! Come and Celebrate our Seventh Anniversary with a Special Sunday Concert with a Cartridge full of Console Classics!
Check out our Concert Trailer, and be sure to purchase tickets now! We shall be playing music from Fortnite, Super Smash Bros, World War Toons, Skyrim, Legend of Zelda and much more!

 
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Kevin Smithers Tapped to Write Metal Slug VR Score

Studio Roqovan announced today that composer, Kevin Smithers, will write the score for the upcoming title, WWT/MSVR (current working: World War Toons / Metal Slug VR). The beta version of the new VR game, featuring a four-player mode, will be unveiled in Korea in January, 2019.

 
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Kevin is now endorsed by Steinberg!

 
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FESTDIVQ gives Best Original Score award to Kevin for his music for On The Roof

El trabajo de otro cineasta español, Damiá Serra Cauchetti, fue premiado por el jurado en la categoría de mejor musicalización por el cortometraje En la azotea. Dicha composición musical estuvo a cargo del compositor mexicano Kevin Smithers.

 
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Musique Fantastique reviews Kevin's score for "Monster Island".

Composer Kevin Smithers (WORLD WAR TOONS [VG]) has provided an entertainingly macabre musical score for Ánima Estudios animated fantasy film MONSTER ISLAND...

 
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Kevin Smithers composed the music for Ánima Estudios new film "Monster Island"

Coming to theaters in the UK this July 21st and to Mexico on September 15th!

 
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World War Toons nominated for Music Reel Award!

My score for World War Toons was nominated for the Music Reel Awards 2016 under the Interactive Game Score category.

 

 
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Kevin's trailer music album "Tempus Temporis" is now available on itunes!

Tempus Temporis is a sparse, emotional and ethereal orchestral album, with dreamy textures, emotive choir and piano motifs, and mesmerizing string themes. Evocative and atmospheric underscores, perfectly complementing any scene needing that unique blend of melancholy, yet hopeful, beautiful and uplifting moods. Composed by Kevin Smithers and published by Revolt Production Music.

 
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kevin smithers talks composing for new playstation vr game world war toons

Growing up in Mexico City, Kevin Smithers’ first dream was to be a video game developer. Despite having no idea what this meant at the time, as a child, it seemed like a pretty cool job. His passion for music took him into a career in film composing, but he now has come back full circle, and re-entered the gaming world through music.

 
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COMPOSER KEVIN SMITHERS NOMINATED FOR BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR FILM ON THE ROOF

While Kevin Smithers was studying his undergraduate degree in music, he came to the realization that he enjoyed sitting down and writing down a good sounding solo over a jazz piece than improvising. This realization shaped his future and career; making the transition from a performer to a composer. Throughout the rest of his studying, this passion grew to become a career. Now, Smithers is a successful film and video game composer.

 
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Berklee college of music interviews kevin smithers

From being composer of soundtracks for films such as Good Grief and Seeking Dolly Parton to his current work on the video game World War Toons, among many other projects, Berklee alumnus Kevin Smithers has developed his voice in the world of film, television, and video games. Born in Mexico City, Mexico, Smithers studied at the Fermatta Music Academy (at that time part of the Berklee International Network) for two years before moving to the London Centre of Contemporary Music in London, United Kingdom. There, he completed a degree in Performance and Production, with a special focus in Musical Directing/Arranging and Audio Visual Synchronization. 

 
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Kevin Smithers selected as finalist in Marvin Hamlisch Film Scoring contest

For over 60 years, CINE has honored student and emerging talent in film and video.  But we know that media is much more — so in 2012, we created a unique, innovative contest to recognize emerging film composers.

The contest is simple: Composers are given footage to score. Scores are anonymously evaluated, and all composers receive judging comments. The 10 top-ranked scores in each category are named as finalists, and a winner is selected by a distinguished jury of noted film-music professionals.

 
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Profound Mexican composer settling the score for 'Blood Lust' vampire thriller and 'Blind Date' short comedy

Kevin Smithers ("Leaving Hotel Romantic"), a renowned film music composer from Mexico City, is creating the original score for the forthcoming short thriller film, "Blood Lust" and for the short comedy film, "The Blind Date."