Legendary sound designer Ben Burtt, the man behind R2-D2’s beeps, lightsaber swoosh and Wall-E’s electronic warble, will be honored at this year’s Locarno Film Festival with the Vision Award Ticinomoda, an award dedicated to creatives whose work has broadened the horizons of cinema.
A 12-time Academy Award winner and four-time Academy Award winner, he received Academy Awards for Special Distinction for his sound work on the original. Star Wars And Raiders of the Lost Arc and won trophies for sound effects and sound editing work on AND the alien And Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade — Burtt created an impressive number of sounds which, in the words of the Locarno festival, “have since imprinted themselves on the minds of several generations of audiences and are still imitated today in schoolyards around the world” .
Among his achievements are the iconic “ET phone home” – a raspy voice of a chain smoker that Burtt discovered in a coffee shop – Chewbacca screams (a combination of several animal howls, including a bear, a walrus and a lion), and The heavy and mechanical breathing of Darth Vader, which he carried out while breathing into a diving regulator.
Talent seems to run in the family. Burtt’s son, Benjamin A. Burtt, received an Academy Award nomination, along with Steve Boeddeker, for sound editing of Black Panther.
The elder Burtt also worked as an editor on the George Lucas novel. Star Wars Prequel Trilogy and has directed several documentaries, including the 1990s Blue planet And Destiny in space In 1994). Seehis non-linear cinematic experiment on cinema and space, is part of the permanent collection of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles.
“Ben Burtt is a key part of the Star Wars mythology,” said Locarno artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro. “A young and precocious sound effects prodigy, he created a library of organic sounds to bring the film’s world of noises to life; these creations become inseparable from the mythology of the Lucasian saga. The list of his innovations is virtually endless… Ben Burtt is a pioneer and visionary who fundamentally changed the way we experience sound in cinema.
Burtt will receive his honor on Wednesday, August 14 in Locarno’s Piazza Grande and will participate in a public Q&A session on Thursday, August 15 at the Forum @Spazio Cinema.
The 77th Locarno Film Festival, which runs from August 7 to 17, 2024, will also honor Oscar-winning director Jane Campion and independent production legend Stacey Sher (Erin Brockovitch, Django Unchained), and the Franco-Swiss star Irène Jacob (Three colors: red).
Discover more from The Times Of Update
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
