Anna Jordan, Terence Blanchard, Reappraising Horror

Published: Feb. 12, 2019, 8:45 p.m.

It was in Manchester in 2013 that Anna Jordan won the Bruntwood Prize, the UK\u2019s biggest national competition for new plays. She\u2019s now back in the city with her new adaptation of a stage classic \u2013 Mother Courage. Bertolt Brecht set his play in 17th century Europe during the Thirty Years\u2019 War but Jordan has moved the story into the future. It\u2019s 2080, and Europe no longer exists, the countries have been replaced by a grid system with individuals struggling to survive between the warring factions.

Six-time Grammy-winning composer and trumpeter Terence Blanchard has written the music for all of Spike Lee\u2019s films since Jungle Fever in 1991, and this year he was nominated for a Bafta and an Oscar for his original score for Lee\u2019s latest, BlacKkKlansman. The composer discusses his approach to his film music, and the challenge of writing the soundtrack for When the Levees Broke, Spike Lee\u2019s 2006 documentary about the devastation of Blanchard\u2019s home town of New Orleans.

The success of Get Out at last year\u2019s film awards gave many horror fans a sense that the genre was finally getting the attention it deserved when it came to the big prizes. But that hope has been dashed as once again, horror has failed to be included in any of the high profile categories in awards such as the Oscars and the BAFTAs. Actor and writer Jacob Trussell, horror film and music producer Mariam Draeger, and critic Gavia Baker Whitelaw discuss why horror should be getting more prizes at the big film awards.