Biography
Hailed as an ‘incredible artist’ by the legendary Hans Zimmer, Suad Bushnaq is a multi-award-winning film music composer whose versatile style spans a number of genres, and whose music, described as “reflective and touching” by the BBC, has moved listeners to their core.
With more than 40 film credits to date, she has scored award-winning features and shorts that screened at festivals like La Biennale di Venezia, Locarno, Hot Docs, and Edinburgh. She was also competitively selected for the Festival de Cannes’ Spot the Composer Program and the SESAC’s Film Scoring Residency in LA, where she was mentored by A-list composer Christophe Beck.
Her awards include a Hollywood Music in Media Award for her Orchestral piece Tomorrow, and Best Original Score for the feature film Jasmine Road from the Fine Arts Film Festival in LA amongst others. In terms of education, Suad holds a bachelor's in music composition from Canada’s top music school, McGill University, and is an alumna of the prestigious and highly competitive Canadian Film Centre Slaight Music Residency.
A Canadian Jordanian citizen of Bosnian, Palestinian, and Syrian roots, Suad is currently working on releasing her AFAC-supported album The Edge of Life: Soundtracks from Arab Cinema. She was also recently nominated for a Canadian Screen Award (Canada’s equivalent to a BAFTA) for her score for the feature film Jasmine Road by Warren Sulatycky, and recently scored Hanging Gardens — a feature film by Ahmed Yassin Al-Daradji, which had its world premiere at the 79th edition of the Biennale di Venezia.
Suad also participated in the International Women in Music Program organized by UN Women in cooperation with United Voices for Peace Network on the sidelines of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW67) as part of the celebrations of International Women's Day 2023, where the United Nations Symphony Orchestra played the song Tomorrow.
Suad’s latest work includes Netflix’s original series CRASHING EID, as well as Hani Khalifa’s long-awaited film CAIRO-MECCA and Fatima Al Banawi’s directorial debut BASMA.