CAREER HIGHLIGHT(S):
Suad Bushnaq is a multi-award-winning music composer with over 40 film credits, including features &
shorts that were screened at festivals like La Biennale di Venezia, Locarno, Hot Docs, and Edinburgh.
She was selected for the Cannes Film Festival’s Spot the Composer Program in 2021 and the SESAC film
scoring residency in LA. Her awards include a Hollywood Music in Media Award for her Orchestral piece
GHADAN (TOMORROW) and a Best Original Score at the Fine Arts Film Festival in LA for Jasmine Road,
amongst others. Her latest film, Hanging Gardens, premiered at the 79th edition of the Biennale di Venezia.
She is a Screen Composer's Guild of Canada board member and a member of the Alliance for Women Film Composers.
TWELVE-MONTH HIGHLIGHT(S):
She won the Best Original Score at the Hollywood North Film Awards for her music on the documentary INCORRIGIBLE -
A FILM ABOUT VELMA DEMERSON and composed the music for Ahmed Yassin Aldaradji’s award-winning HANGING GARDENS,
which premiered in Venice, Patricia Chica’s romantic-comedy MONTRÉAL GIRLS, Sean McCarron’s short animation CORVINE and
the Jordanian film SALMA'S HOME. Suad was the only Arab artist featured in 2023’s UN-sponsored International Women’s Day celebration
where the United Nations Orchestra performed her orchestral piece GHADAN.
NEXT CHALLENGE:
To embark on the Arab entertainment industry on a popular level.
What character do you identify with?
AMÉLIE POULAIN (and sometimes Josephine March from LITTLE WOMEN)
Who’s your hero?
My son Nabil Amadeus. He reminds me how beautiful the world is
through his four-year-old eyes, and I learn life lessons from his big
heart. I am ten times stronger as a woman because of him.
What’s the industry’s most troubling trend?
The disposability of talent.
2024 will be the year that MENA finally does what?
Starts a Best Original Score Award at all MENA film festivals.
What was your first job?
Working at a music store. My second job was selling knives door to door!
What’s your secret daily habit or guilty pleasure?
Mini éclairs. Instead of eating them individually as finger food, I
heat up seven in a bowl until melted, then eat them with a spoon
while watching a late-night show after a long day.
What’s the last great show or film you watched?
THE WHITE LOTUS and, prior to that, THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT.
What would have been your dream job if you didn’t end up doing what you’re doing?
A pilot at a commercial airline.
