andy cowton
sound and music for film and television
Andy has been composing for film and television for over 20 years. Having originally trained in dance and theatre at Dartington College of Arts Andy switched camps after joining agitprop industrial music group Test Dept and studying electro-acoustic music with composer Barry Anderson.
Since then he has collaborated as a composer and sound designer working on many different award winning projects spanning film, contemporary dance, documentaries, art installations and tv commercials.
Recently he has composed on the 2022 Netflix documentary Fugitive - The Curious Case of Carlos Ghosn. Also for Netflix The Surgeons Cut which received a BAFTA, Best Specialist Factual, RTS award and Emmy Best Science 2020.
Dying to Divorce a feature length documentary directed by Chloe Fairweather received awards in 2021. Amnesty International Award in Thessaloniki Documentary Festival and Special Jury Prize / Golden Nymph at Monte Carlo TV Festival. The film has also been selected for a UK Entry for Best International Feature at the Oscars and nominated for a Grierson Award 2023
Feature film Women do Cry directed by Bulgarian Mina Mileva and Vessela Kassakova premiered in Cannes Official Selection Un Certain Regard 2021, and is currently touring festivals worldwide. It recently received the Youth Jury Award at Cork International Film Festival this year.
As a composer for contemporary dance he has written for numerous companies but most notably for Russell Maliphant whose works include Push & Two with Silvie Guillem which received Olivier and South Bank Awards
Lest We Forget for the English National Ballet was scored for electronics and live orchestra.
Lessons of the Hour by Isaac Julien is a multi-screen video installation premiered at The Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester March 2019. It recently screened in Picadilly Circus as part of London Major Art Takeover. Juliens latest multi screen film Once Again - Statues Never Die premiered this year at the Barnes Institute, Phildelphia.
Ride, a stop motion animation short by Paul Bush has received numerous awards including best sound design at Ottawa Animation Festival. His latest film Orgiastic Hyper-Plastic recently won best film at the Monstra Animation Festival in Lisbon, the Special Jury Award at Hiroshima International Animation Festival and the Børge Ring Award at Odense 2021.
Leonora Carrington : The Lost Surrealist dir: Teresa Griffiths won the Grierson award for Best Arts Documentary and an RTS award 2018.
Other installation works include Time-lines a panoramic video installation shown at the Towner Gallery in Eastbourne.
Transitions a film by Jannane-An-Ali was commissioned for the opening of the National Museum of Qatar. The film was projected over a 50 meter wall in G3. The composition was for spatial audio over 25 speakers.
One. A multi screen film installation commissioned by the Ocenarium in Lisbon. Directed by Maya Almeida .
Resonate, is a project initiated by Patricia Bossio of Ubiqua gallery. An installation soundtrack in response to the work of painter Mark Francis. Also featured as part of the FoxJensengallery's forthcoming show Plastic Soul in Auckland.