THE FILM “IL FUOCO CHE TI PORTI DENTRO” BY EDOARDO DE ANGELIS (VENICE 83) WINS THE AWARD FOR BEST ORIGINAL SCORE BY LA NIÑA AND ALFREDO MADDALUNO

SPECIAL MUSIC AWARD TO DANIEL PEMBERTON FOR INK BY DANNY BOYLE (VENICE 83)

THE SOUNDTRACK STARS SPECIAL AWARD 2026 PAYS TRIBUTE TO ACADEMY AWARD® WINNER DANIEL BLUMBERG A MEMBER OF THE JURY AT VENICE 83

A SPECIAL MENTION ALSO GOES TO TREDICI PIETRO FOR HIS SONG “LA FRETTA,” FEATURED IN ANDREA RICCIOTTI’S SHORT FILM “IL PRIMO DELLA CLASSE”

Venice Lido, September 10 — The Soundtrack Stars Award 2026 for Best Original Score among the films in official selection at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival goes to Il Fuoco che ti porti dentro by Edoardo De Angelis. The decision was taken by the Jury of the 14th edition of the Award, chaired by Laura Delli Colli, which awarded LA NIÑA and Alfredo Maddaluno the prize for the score produced by CAM Sugar.

As stated in the jury’s citation, De Angelis’s film is “A work in which the sounds of the music mark out moods and undercurrents, perfectly underlining the climate of tension in which old resentments and never-quite-settled misunderstandings dissolve. In the musical project curated by CAM Sugar, which marks LA NIÑA‘s debut in cinema, the score goes beyond simple musical counterpoint to become a protagonist in its own right — much like the screenplay and direction, rich in small twists, of Edoardo De Angelis.”

A special award, also among the films in competition, goes to the music by Daniel Pemberton for INK by Danny Boyle: “Once again, a score that confirms the special artistic partnership between the composer and the director of Trainspotting. For the fourth time working side by side, the composer drives the frenetic rhythm of some of the film’s sequences, with images and sounds building in an increasingly intense flow to create a true soundscape.”

Rounding out the awards of this 14th edition is a tribute to British composer Daniel Blumberg, Academy Award® winner for The Brutalist, who was honored in Venice in 2024 and returns to the Lido this year as a member of the jury of the 83rd Venice Film Festival. He now joins the roll of honor of the greatest film composers with the SOUNDTRACK STARS SPECIAL AWARD 2026 “for having restored to the film score the value of an authentic cinematic language; for his ability to transform sound into emotion, memory and storytelling; and for having created works that have already left their mark on the history of contemporary cinema and continue to open up new expressive possibilities.” In The World to Come, his score accompanies the story with an almost imperceptible delicacy, while in The Brutalist, through his collaboration with Brady Corbet, his music becomes narrative substance, transforming sounds into emotions.

The Jury adds: “At a time when cinema continues to reinvent its own language, your music reminds us that true innovation always springs from the authenticity of one’s vision and the courage to explore. Daniel Blumberg does not simply accompany cinema; he listens to its heartbeat, in an act of listening and profound creative dialogue. His music emerges where words end and the deepest space of storytelling begins: where time expands, silence acquires weight, and every note becomes part of the cinematic writing. Blumberg never seeks to “explain” the images, but instead moves through them with discretion, questions them and completes them, leaving the audience free to inhabit the emotion. It is a unique and deeply personal way of composing, far removed from any conventional approach, as is evident from the very beginning of his career in cinema, through an ongoing dialogue with directors who share his creative sensibility.“

From films in competition to a socially conscious short film, a special mention goes to Tredici Pietro for La Fretta, the song that accompanies the story told in the short film that won the “La Realtà che non esiste” contest, created by One More Pictures in collaboration with Rai Cinema and dedicated to storytellers under 35. This is the “youngest” award of this edition and, as stated in the jury’s citation: “This award stems from the song’s ability to amplify the emotions and meaning of the story, blending with the images into a single, intense narrative. A choice perfectly attuned to the theme of the short film, which invites us, especially in this confused era of fake news, to pause, observe and question before unreflectively accepting an image as testimony of truth.”

The Jury of the Soundtrack Stars Award 2026 is coordinated by Laura Delli Colli (President of the Italian Film Journalists, SNGCI) and includes Cristiana Paternò (President of the Italian Film Critics, SNCCI, and Director of Cinecittà News); for the SNGCI National Board, Paolo Sommaruga (Vice President of Film Journalists and Editor-in-Chief of Tg1), Fulvia Caprara (La Stampa), Nicole Bianchi (Cinecittà News), Damiano Panattoni (Movieplayer), Carola Carulli (Tg2), Stefania Ulivi (Corriere della Sera), Francesca Pierleoni (Ansa), Giuseppe Fantasia (Il Foglio), Dario Cangemi (The HotCorn), Mattia Carzaniga (Rolling Stone), Ivana Faccioli (Director of News Radio RTL 102.5), and Flavio Natalia (Director of SalaGrande).

 

The Soundtrack Stars Award

Promoted in collaboration with the Italian Film Journalists (SNGCI), the Soundtrack Stars award is a project conceived and produced by Andrea Camporesi, CEO and Creative Director of FREE EVENT, a leading entertainment company (based in Milan, London and Barcelona). The Award recognizes the value of music and its essential importance in filmmaking, and each year, among the works in the Festival’s Official Competition, it highlights the most compelling score, one able to support the film through its own narrative, a story told through notes, in dialogue with the images, heightening their emotion and adding a special resonance to the story.

Over the years, the Soundtrack Stars Award has honored not only the winners chosen by the Jury but also leading figures from the national and international music and film scene. At last year’s edition, held alongside the 82nd Venice Film Festival, the Jury awarded the Soundtrack Stars Award 2025 to DUSE, directed by Pietro Marcello, for the score by Fabrizio Elvetico, Marco Messina and Sacha Ricci.

A special mention went to Paolo Sorrentino’s “La Grazia” for the special appearance of Guè Pequeno in an unforgettable cameo shared with Toni Servillo, while the special award was given to Joseph Kosinski’s “F1® The Movie” for the music by Hans Zimmer, collected in a remarkable moment by Formula 1 President and CEO Stefano Domenicali. In previous editions, special awards have honored musical artists such as Apparat, Subsonica, Stefano Bollani, Ornella Vanoni, as well as directors Ferzan Özpetek, Guillermo Del Toro and Gabriele Muccino, testifying to the unbreakable bond between cinema and music.

Among the great film composers after the legendary Ennio Morricone, the award has also been received in Venice by Alexandre Desplat, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Giorgio Moroder, Nicola Piovani and Andrea Guerra.

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