20 Oct 2011: Walter Murch gives Film Sound Seminar in Ghent

Register here for the Film Sound Seminar with Walter Murch. The name Walter Murch (New York, 1943) may not ring any bells among the general public, but in the world of film he is regarded as the leading film and sound editor of his generation. Not only is he familiar with the way films are created and how they work, he also knows where they can go wrong and how they can be saved. After graduating from the USC School of Cinematic Arts in California, the young Murch went straight into work. Together with Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas he was at the forefront of the New Hollywood. Walter Murch took care of the sound editing and mixing for Coppola's road movie The Rain People (1969). As well as editing the sound for George Lucas' feature film debut THX-1138 (1970), he also co-wrote the screenplay. Over the years he has collaborated with Coppola on a number of sound and film editing masterpieces. The deceptive subtlety of Murch's sound design is illustrated in the refined paranoid thriller The Conversation (1974), in which the wrong interpretation of a sound recording even holds the key to solving the crime. Less subtle but no less impressive is his spectacular recreation of the Vietnam War in Apocalypse Now (1979). Murch not only served as one of Coppola's key collaborators in the Godfather trilogy (1972/1974/1990) but also edited the three feature films into one uninterrupted epic story for the TV version The Godfather Trilogy: 1901-1980. In addition, he was the main creative collaborator on Coppola's most recent films: Youth Without Youth (2007) and Tetro (2009). Murch also forged an important creative partnership with British director Anthony Minghella, who died before his time, aged just 54. Murch won an Oscar for both Best Sound and Best Film Editing for the first film they worked on together, The English Patient (1996). They subsequently also collaborated on The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) and Cold Mountain (2003). In 1998 Murch was in charge of the editing and sound of the restored version of Touch of Evil, Orson Welles' mutilated masterpiece from 1958. Other important films in his portfolio include Julia (1977, directed by Fred Zinnemann), The Unbearable Lightness Of Being (1988, directed by Philip Kaufman) and Romeo Is Bleeding (1993, directed by Peter Medak). The Film Sound Seminar with Walter Murch will be held on Thursday 20 October 2011 from 10 a.m. till 4 p.m. at the Ghent Film Festival (Kinepolis 8). Registration fee: €25 (€15 for students and accredited participants). Sandwich lunch is included. For more information, contact Valerie Dobbelaere (valerie@filmfestival.be - (+32) (0)9 242 80 74).