Period. End Of Sentence is a 2019 Oscar-winning documentary short film about a quiet sexual revolution happening within India, and composer Giosuè Greco crafted a compelling score.
In 2019, Period. End Of Sentence beat out a field of strong contenders in the short film documentary category. The film draws inspiration from the life of Arunachalam Muruganantham, a social activist who is one of the women featured in the movie. Activists Shabana Khan, Gouri Choudary, Ajeya, and Anita make up the rest of the activist super-team covered in a dense and captivating 25-minute runtime.
PopAxiom and Giosuè spoke about becoming a musician and creating music for an Oscar-winning film.
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Giosuè’s grandfather was a saxophone player, “so we always had a saxophone lying around the house. I grew up in a family where music was very supported and started cultivating that passion.”
At “about 12 or 13,” he says, “I realized music is what I wanted to do. I started picking up different instruments, flute, guitar, piano.”
Giosuè went to a “music-centric high school where I could play in different bands and orchestras.”
Becoming a composer was still nowhere on Giosuè’s radar. “I didn’t study composing in school per se, but I studied classical music and had the fundamentals. I studied classical saxophone.”
“Playing saxophone,” he explains, “the only thing you can do other than playing classical is jazz. When I started Berklee, my idea was that I was going to play jazz forever, and I was going to be the greatest jazz saxophonist ever.”
Giosuè attended Berklee and completed the “music production engineering program.” After Berklee, he flew out to LA. “I wanted to try and be a music person. I wanted to do everything. I started interning at studios, but it’s not quite hands on. I started producing pop music and experimenting with sounds.”
“Film composition is something that I ended up doing in LA,” he admits. “I was lucky enough to cross paths with Dan Romer (Beast Of No Nation). At the time, he was looking for a tech person. We clicked immediately, and shortly after, he asked me if I wanted to do some additional writing for a score. From that moment on, I just kept writing.”
About Period. End Of Sentence
Giosuè became part of the Period. End Of Sentence team through Dan Romer. “They had some music temped in the cut that was a lot of dance music. They wanted to do an original score, and they contacted me because they knew I was working for Dan.”
“It was a very short period,” he says of the time spent creating the score for the short film. “ I think it took two weeks to record the project. It was one of those things I did and moved on, and kind of forgot about it.”
Giosuè thought the project “was great, but I was not expecting a nomination and then a win!”
“We didn’t have any formal spotting sessions for this film,” he reveals. Instead, the process was more organic. “I went with what I thought was appropriate for the scene. There’s a lot of wide shots and silent moments. So, I thought I’d take the most acoustic approach possible.”
Giosuè, like any modern-day composer, uses a lot of digital tools to make a score. But he says, “I always try to keep things as organic as I can, even if it’s a synthesizer.”
Wrapping Up
Talk of influence starts with one of the legends. “My dad was, I don’t want to say obsessed, but he loved Ennio Morricone. I’m convinced he’s the basis of anything I ever do musically. It’s so ingrained in my mind at this point.”
Giosuè is a massive fan of filmmaking icon Federico Fellini and mentions one of his films as a dream project. “Amarcord. I would love to work on a modern version of that film.”
Period. End Of Sentence is two years removed from an Oscar award, and Giosuè’s worked on a lot of projects since then. So, what’s next? “Not Going Quietly. It’s about Ady Barkan, a political American healthcare activist. The story takes place during 2015 as Ady continues his fight and ALS takes over his body.”
Is Period. End Of Sentence on your watch list?
Thanks to Giosuè Greco and Impact24 PR
for making this interview possible.
Read more interviews from Ruben R. Diaz!
