Composer Hans Zimmer Wins his First BAFTA Award

Held at London’s Royal Albert Hall, the 75th BAFTA Film Awards announced German film composer Hans Zimmer as the winner for Original Score — for the 2021 dystopian film, Dune, directed by Denis Villeneuve.

Zimmer was previously nominated for this accolade several times for his scores including The Lion King, The Dark Knight, Inception, 12 Years a Slave, and Interstellar, among others. 

According to Film Music Reporter, Zimmer is additionally nominated for an Academy Award for his work on Dune. Other composers nominated in the category included Nicholas Britell for Don’t Look Up and Alexandre Desplat for The French Dispatch.

Dune won five BAFTAs including Zimmer’s original score. Due to the composer’s current European Tour, “Hans Zimmer Live,” he wasn’t able to attend the award ceremony.

According to BBC Music Magazine, this year’s BAFTAs featured live performances including “Diamonds Are Forever,” one of the James Bond themes – in honor of 007’s 60th anniversary – conducted by Dame Shirley Bassey.

Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now,” included in the film Coda, was performed by the film’s protagonist Emilia Jones. Her vocals were interpreted on stage in ASL and BSL sign language. An arrangement of the late Stephen Sondheim’s “Send in the Clowns” was also featured at the event.

In the days following Zimmer’s win of his first BAFTA, he took to Facebook to share his experiences with the thousands of audience members attending his European tour. 

“It's especially meaningful to play alongside [nine] of our Ukrainian musicians who we managed to get out of Odessa for this tour…Right now we are living history as it's being made. On stage it's incredibly emotional, joyous and full of love — which is what art is supposed to be…these musicians are playing with a ferocious passion, making music that re-connects us all.”