Canadian Screen Award Nominee selected to score CBC docuseries 'Human - The Miracle of a Species'

LOS ANGELES, CA, Oct. 10, 2013 /CNW/ - Darren Fung, one of Canada's most prolific film-music composers, will score new original music for "Human - Miracle of a Species," a forthcoming three-part documentary series. It will broadcast in 2015 on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and on PBS NOVA in the U.S.

The most ambitious documentary series in production for CBC's The Nature of Things 2014-15 season, "Human" explores the miracle of our survival in Africa and our dispersal around the planet in an era of climate volatility and environmental change unmatched since the extinction of the dinosaurs.

Multiple Gemini and AMPIA Award winner Niobe Thompson is directing and hosting the series. His Edmonton-based production company recently produced the Sigourney Weaver narrated multiple Gemini nominee "Tipping Point: The End of Oil" and the triple Canadian Screen Award (CSA) nominee "The Perfect Runner."

"Filming on five continents over 18 months, this series tackles a mystery of our origins - how did we persevere, and adapt to all the world's climates, just at that moment when the planet's climate got really nasty?" said Thompson, a Cambridge-trained anthropologist. "We need a film score to match this scale, and Darren's work, especially in creating and directing complex orchestrations and working with live musicians to create documentary film scores, is exactly what we're looking for."

Extremely rare for the North American documentary landscape, Darren will compose for a full symphony orchestra and choir, to be recorded in Alberta, Canada.

Fung said, "Music is the unifying force in film to tie everything together. The whole idea is to match the richness in picture to the richness in music. It's incredible to have the resources to create music to match the epic nature of the picture."

Fung composed film music for "This is what Democracy Sounds Like," and the CBC's "Lost Years," which earned him a CSA nomination for Best Original Music.

The Second Vice President of the Screen Composers Guild of Canada, Fung is also credited for the recreation of Canada's second national anthem, and for the famed hockey theme for CTV and TSN. He composed Bell Canada's Orchestra spot, voted as Canada's top commercial in 2010, by The Globe and Mail newspaper.

Fung's film-music credits include "Just Buried," "Whirligig," "Beyond Sherwood Forest" and the independent features "Awaken," "Father vs. Son" and "Summerhood."

SOURCE: Darren Fung

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