In harmony with film Mary Finsterer

In fact, a collection of works composed by Mary Finsterer rang through the audience as they settled in to watch the movie South Solitary, which opened the 2010 Sydney Film Festival on Wednesday.

Finsterer and her family were among the special guests at the gala event, which celebrated the creative achievements of people in the Australia film industry.

It was a busy week for Finsterer and another Highlander, violinist Kate Malone, who had also worked on the movie soundtrack through ABC Classics on Tuesday.

South Solitary is a post-war Australian romance directed by Shirley Barrett and starring Miranda Otto in the lead role and her father, Barry Otto.

It was filmed in and around Portland, Victoria.

Finsterer said the movie’s selection to open the Sydney Festival was a great accolade and compliment to all involved.

She said her compositions were inspired by the story, the wonderful photography in the film and the vision of the director.

Finsterer is no stranger to great achievements in her field, but she said she was excited about her involvement in the film.

“It is the first time I have

been the composer for an entire film,” she said.

Finsterer has previously assisted world-renowned composer Marco Beltrami, which included creating additional pieces for the film Die Hard 4.

However, she said her experience was largely in multi-media and for the concert world.

She also won the coveted Paul Lowin Orchestral Prize last year, which is one of Australia’s highest musical honours.

Finsterer was equally excited about the involvement on the movie soundtrack of friend and musician Ms Malone.

“Much of the music for the movie was performed by the Sydney Scoring Orchestra, which includes many musicians from the Sydney Symphony,” she said.

“But I composed some additional solo interludes for the soundtrack which feature the talents of Kate – she is a wonderful violinist who creates a beautiful sound and energy.”

The South Solitary soundtrack will be released on July 23; the movie opens in cinemas from July 29.

But there is no rest for Finsterer, who is now working on a musical theatre piece, Biographica, which draws on her recent research of renaissance music.

Finsterer is also working on compositions to complement a multimedia event, Landmass, to take place in late 2010 and 2011.

She said it would feature photographs taken by her husband, Dean Golje, during a residency at Wingecarribee Resource Recovery Centre, as well as two other series of works.

“My soundscapes for Landmass have been supported by a grant from the Australia Council for the Arts Project Fellowship,” she said.

“It is a really exciting project that will be accessible to people around the country with the intention to make people more aware of recycling.”