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 several genres, and whose music — described as “reflective and touching” by the BBC — has moved listeners to their core.
Be it orchestral, atmospheric, or minimalist, Suad’s distinct sensitivity to pictures and passion for cinema makes her an in-demand composer who ensures that each film’s unique identity shines through the score.
With over 40 film credits to date, she has scored award-winning features and shorts that have screened at festivals such as La Biennale di Venezia, Locarno, Hot Docs, and Edinburgh.
Ethnically speaking, Suad is a dual Canadian Jordanian citizen of Bosnian, Syrian, and Palestinian roots who is currently based in Canada but can be found traveling the world.
Education-wise, Suad holds a bachelor's in music composition from Canada’s top music school, McGill University, and studied at the Higher Institute of Music in Syria.
She also held several film-scoring lectures and workshops at schools, universities, and festivals in the US, Canada, and Oman and moderated panels for the DOC Institute and the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television.
Additionally, Suad speaks Arabic, English, French, and Spanish and holds a bachelor's in education. She is also a Screen Composer's Guild of Canada Board Member, a member of the Alliance for Women Film Composers, and is publicly represented by Core Music Agency.
Suad’s orchestral music was performed by the Belgian National Orchestra, Vermont Symphony, the National Arab Orchestra, Friedenauerkammerensemble, Luneburg Symphony, The Bergara Symphony Orchestra, the British Police Orchestra, and the Syrian Expat Philharmonic (of which she’s a composer in residence) in venues like Konzerthaus Berlin, Philharmonie Berlin, BOZAR, Malmö Live Konserthus, and Elbphilharmonie.
Her instrumental music was performed in Finland, Norway, Hawaii, Jerusalem, and Carnegie Hall. She also brought some of her film scores to the concert stage and was commissioned by Betty Productions (London Olympics 2012) to compose music for the UAE’s 48th official celebration, which was recorded by the London Symphony and played at a huge audio-visual show in December 2019 with 30,000 attendees.
In 2021, her 20-minute cello concerto, SAMPSON'S WALK ON AIR — commissioned by the Vermont Symphony Orchestra and performed live at the Flynn Center for the Arts — received a five-minute standing ovation from all 1,400 audience members in attendance.
Suad 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.
She was then selected to receive the 2021 Kathleen McMorrow Music Award — a merit-based award presented once a year to a Canadian composer by the Ontario Arts Foundation. After that, she was competitively selected for and completed the Canadian Film Center Slaight Music Residency and the Krakow Film Music Festival SynCamp.
In terms of awards, Suad has won the Hollywood Music in Media Award-Exceptional Instrumental Performance for her orchestral piece TOMORROW and was nominated for the same award in 2019 for A VERY IMPORTANT APPOINTMENT and in 2018 for THE ROAD TO JENIN.
Moreover, she won the Beyond Music Foundation Creativity Award, Artemis Women in Action Film Festival Award, Best Original Score for the feature film JASMINE ROAD at the Fine Arts Film Festival of the Venice Institute of Contemporary Art in LA, and an Arab Fund for Arts & Culture Grant for her album SOUNDTRACKS FROM INDEPENDENT ARAB CINEMA.
In 2022, Suad was also nominated for a Canadian Screen Award (the Canadian equivalent of a BAFTA or César) for her original score for the feature film JASMINE ROAD by Warren Sulatycky and won the Best Original Score for INCORRIGIBLE: THE STORY OF VELMA DEMERSON at the Hollywood North Film Awards.
In that same year, Bushnaq was also nominated for the distinguished Louis Applebaum Composers Award — an award presented by the Ontario Arts Council.
Most recently, Suad scored HANGING GARDENS — a feature film by Ahmed Yassin Al-Daradji, which held its world premiere at the 79th edition of the Biennale di Venezia 2022 and was recently selected to be Iraq’s official submission for Best Foreign Film at the 2024 Academy Awards.
She 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 her song TOMORROW.
Suad’s latest work includes Netflix’s original series CRASHING EID, as well as Hani Khalifa’s long-awaited film FLIGHT 404 and Fatima Al Banawi’s directorial debut BASMA.
Additionally, she scored the Emirati film MOUNTAIN BOY (2024), which is based on a series of children’s books, as well as Saudi film FROM THE ASHES (2024).
Suad is also currently working on the soundtrack for Ameer Fakher ElDin’s upcoming feature YUNAN and the second season of 1980s Kuwaiti Netflix series THE EXCHANGE.
