Johan Carøe
Biography
Johan Carøe is a producer and film composer whose work ranges from string and synth-minimalism to maximalism and power ambient through classical instruments, noise and synthesis.
Johan Carøe has collaborated with a string of producers, one of them being Sofie Birch, resulting in the acclaimed collaborative effort Repair Techniques LP, which raving reviews called 'one of those rare albums that knows how to impress with very small gesture [and] gorgeous, next-level material that takes the influence of Japanese new age music, Visible Cloaks and early Oneohtrix Point Never and shuttles it into a breathy, humid climate'.
In 2022, Johan Carøe and Sofie Birch were nominated as Composers of the Year for their work on Repair Techniques by the Danish Music Critics Society.
In collaboration with Kwamie Liv and the legendary Yasuaki Shimizu, Johan Carøe composed the soundtrack to Daniel Dencik's feature film Miss Osaka from 2021, which was nominated for Best Score by the Danish Film Academy in 2022. For the same score, Johan Carøe and his co-composers received a nomination for the Carl Prisen 2022. He also scored the soundtrack to the opening film of CPH:DOX 2021, 70/30, a documentary portraying the creation of one of the world's most ambitious climate laws. In previous years, Carøe co-composed soundtracks to Gold Coas' (with Angelo Badalamenti) and Weltschmerz (winner of Best Original Music at Ekko Shortlist Awards in 2018).
Film
Directed by Gabriel Bier Gislason
Feature film
Directed by Louise Leth
Documentary feature
70/30, 2021
Directed by Phie Ambo
Documentary feature
World premiere at CPH:DOX
Miss Osaka, 2021
Directed by Daniel Dencik
Feature film
Rediscovery, 2019
Directed by Phie Ambo
Documentary feature
World premiere at CPH:DOX
When You Look Away..., 2017
Directed by Phie Ambo
Documentary feature
World premiere at CPH:DOX
Guldkysten, 2015
Directed by Daniel Dencik
Feature film
World premiere at Karlovy Vary
Short films
Isolation, 2020
Directed by Christina Amundsen & Emilie Thalund
Campaign short
Young Director's Award Cannes
Uden At Blinke, 2020
Directed by Katrine Brocks
Short Film of the Year, Danish Film Academy
Weltschmerz, 2017
Directed by Jesper Dalgaard
Documentary short
Short Film of the Year, Danish Film Academy
ATELIER, 2017
Directed by Elsa Maria Jakobsdottir
Short Film of the Year, Edda Awards, Iceland
Tsunami, 2015
Directed by Sofie Nørgaard Kampmark
Animation Short
World Premiere at Cannes International Film Festival
Awards
2022
Carl Prisen
Nominee (w/ Kwamie Liv and Yasuaki Shimizu): Score Composer of the Year MISS OSAKA
Danish Film Awards (Robert)
Nominee (w/ Kwamie Liv and Yasuaki Shimizu): Best Original Score MISS OSAKA
Danish Music Critics Society (Steppeulven)
Nominee (w/ Sofie Birch): Composer of the Year
2018
Angers European First Film Festival
Winner Best Soundtrack: SOMBRA
Ekko Shortlist Awards
Winner Best Original Score (w/ Søren Stenager): WELTSCHMERZ
Ekko Shortlist Awards
Nominee Best Original Score (w/ Hildur Guðnadóttir): ATELIER
2016
Danish Film Awards (Robert)
Nominee (w/ Angelo Badalamenti and Lasse Martinussen): Best Original Score GULDKYSTEN
FILMSCORE
DEN STORE STILHED (THE GREAT SILENCE)
29-year-old Alma lives a quiet life in a Catholic convent in present day Denmark and is preparing to take her perpetual vows as a nun, when her brother Erik arrives unexpectedly after many years apart. Erik, a recovering alcoholic, wants his share of the inheritance from their late father. However, his presence quickly unearths a much deeper deceit between them – a terrible accident from their past, that Alma has desperately tried to suppress. With the ceremony approaching Alma becomes increasingly haunted by resurfacing trauma and all that was invisible before, is now written on the walls.
World premiere: 17 September 2022 at San Sebastián Film Festival - New Directors section
Theatrical release: 12 January 2023
FILMSCORE
NATTEN HAR ØJNE (ATTACHMENT)
Maja, a Danish actress with a fading career, falls in love with Leah, a young Jewish academic from London. But when Leah suffers a mysterious seizure, leading to a debilitating injury, Maja fears their whirlwind romance might be cut short and decides to follow Leah back to her home in the Hasidic area of Stamford Hill, London. There she meets Leah’s overbearing and secretive mother, Chana, who lives downstairs. As Maja notices strange occurrences in the building, she begins to suspect that Chana’s secrets could be much darker than first anticipated.
World premiere: Midnight section at Tribeca Film Festival (8-19 June 2022)
Theatrical release: 30 June 2022
FILMSCORE
SE MIG SOM JEG ER (SEE ME AS I AM)
Rima stands on the border between child and adult, but she does not want to grow up too fast. And she doesn’t want to be known as the girl who needed help. But Rima is also autistic, so she still needs advice on some of the things most others rarely think about, like taking the bus home alone from school. Still, she insists on living as normally as possible in a world not designed for those who do not fit in perfectly. She dreams of becoming a singer or a hairdresser. And all around her are her siblings and her ever-supportive mother, who knows she will have to let Rima go soon, and her friend Sara, who is always there for her whenever Rima finds herself in a tight spot.
World premiere at CPH:DOX 2022