Graham Tardif (born 1957) is an Australian screen music composer. He is the composer on ten feature films directed and written by Rolf de Heer. Their most acclaimed collaboration, '' The Tracker'' (2002), resulted in an APRA-AGSC Screen Music Award for "Far Away Home" as Best Original Song Composed for a Feature Film, Telemovie, TV Series or Mini-Series (shared with de Heer) in 2002. ''The Tracker'' also provided wins at

Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards The Film Critics Circle of Australia (FCCA) is an association of cinema critics and reviewers. It includes journalists in "media, television, major national and state papers, radio, national and state, online and freelance writers, Australian ...

(Best Music Score) and

IF Awards The Inside Film Awards (now known as the IF Awards) is an annual awards ceremony and broadcast platform for the Australian film industry, developed by the creators of Inside Film Magazine, Stephen Jenner and David Barda, and originally produced fo ...

(Best Music) for the pair.

History

Graham Tardif was born in 1957. He attended

Australian Film, Television and Radio School The Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) formerly Australian Film and Television School, is Australia's national screen arts and broadcast school. The school is a Commonwealth Government statutory authority. History Establishe ...

(AFTRS), Sydney. There he met Dutch-born writer, director and producer Rolf de Heer, for whom he composed screen music on ten feature films. They first worked on de Heer's short film, ''The Audition'' (1979), for his AFTRS diploma. ''

Tail of a Tiger ''Tail of a Tiger'' is a 1984 Australian film directed by Rolf de Heer and starring Grant Navin. It de Heer's first feature.David Stratton, ''The Avocado Plantation: Boom and Bust in the Australian Film Industry'', Pan MacMillan, 1990 p342 Pr ...

'' (1984) had Tardif composing the score for de Heer's first feature film.David Stratton, ''The Avocado Plantation: Boom and Bust in the Australian Film Industry'', Pan MacMillan, 1990 p342 Fellow composer and musicologist Cat Hope analysed Tardif and de Heer's works including '' The Tracker'' (2002) and '' Alexandra's Project'' (2003). She observed, "Tardif's minimal electronic score in ''Alexandra's Project'' implies the undercurrent of invisible electro-magnetic signals in an urban landscape, making an ordinary street seem like a harbinger of impending doom." Their "most meaningful collaboration" was on ''The Tracker'' where songs were delivered by Indigenous artist

Archie Roach Archibald William Roach (8 January 1956 – 30 July 2022) was an Australian singer, songwriter and Aboriginal activist. Often referred to as "Uncle Archie", Roach was a Gunditjmara and Bundjalung elder who campaigned for the rights of Abori ...

, which "not only adds an extra layer of narrative to the film, but also personalises the de Heer/Tardif working relationship and gives it a new voice."

Filmography

Credited as composer: * ''The Sparks Obituary'' (short, 1978) * ''Tasmania’s South West: a Wilderness in Question'' (documentary, 1979) * ''The Audition'' (short, 1979) * ''

'' (1984) * ''Thank You Jack'' (TV film, 1986) * ''

Incident at Raven's Gate ''Incident at Raven's Gate'' (also released as ''Encounter at Raven's Gate'') is a 1988 science fiction arthouse feature film directed by prominent Australian director Rolf de Heer. The cast of ''Incident at Raven's Gate'' includes long-term Au ...

'' (1988) * ''Difficult Pleasure: A Portrait of Brett Whiteley'' (1989) * ''Astonish Me, Graeme Murphy Choreographer'' (1989) * ''Antarctica: Physical Geography'' (short documentary, 1991) * ''

Bad Boy Bubby ''Bad Boy Bubby'' is a 1993 black comedy film written and directed by Rolf de Heer, and starring Nicholas Hope, Claire Benito, Ralph Cotterill and Carmel Johnson. Hope stars as the titular character, a mentally challenged man who has been held ...

'' (1993) * '' Epsilon'' ''Alien Visitor'' (1995) * ''The Quiet Room'' (1996) * ''

Dance Me to My Song ''Dance Me to My Song'' is a 1998 Australian drama film directed by Rolf de Heer. It was entered into the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. The film grossed $175,138 at the box office in Australia. Heather Rose described her intention to make the scre ...

'' (1998) * ''Terra Nova'' (1998) * '' The Old Man Who Read Love Stories'' (2001) * '' The Tracker'' (2002) * '' Alexandra's Project'' (2003) * '' Dr. Plonk'' (2007) * '' The King Is Dead!'' (2012) * '' Charlie's Country'' (2013) * ''Still Our Country'' (2014)

Accolades

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'' , rowspan="3", Best Original Music Score , rowspan="3", AFI Awards , , (shared with Roman Kronen) , , - ! scope="row" , 2003 , '' Alexandra's Project'' , , , , - ! scope="row" , 2003 , '' The Old Man Who Read Love Stories'' , , , , - ! scope="row" , 2002 , "Far Away Home" , Best Original Song Composed for a Feature Film, Telemovie, TV Series or Mini-Series , APRA-AGSC Screen Music Awards , , (shared with Rolf de Heer) , , - ! scope="row" , 2002 , ''The Tracker'' , Best Original Soundtrack Album , ARIA Music Awards , , (shared with Rolf de Heer and

, , - ! scope="row" , 2002 , ''The Tracker'' , rowspan="2", Best Music Score , rowspan="2",

, , (shared with Rolf de Heer) , , - ! scope="row" , 2008 , '' Dr. Plonk'' , , , , - ! scope="row" , 2002 , ''The Tracker'' , Best Music ,

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tardif, Graham 1957 births Australian film score composers Male film score composers Living people