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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 (Best Music Score) and IF Awards (Best Music) for the pair.

History

Graham Tardif was born in 1957. He attended Australian Film, Television and Radio School (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 (1984) had Tardif composing the score for de Heer's first feature film. 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, 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)
• Tail of a Tiger (1984)
• Thank You Jack (TV film, 1986)
• Incident at Raven's Gate (1988)
• Difficult Pleasure: A Portrait of Brett Whiteley (1989)
• Astonish Me, Graeme Murphy Choreographer (1989)
• Antarctica: Physical Geography (short documentary, 1991)
• Bad Boy Bubby (1993)
• Epsilon a.k.a. Alien Visitor (1995)
• The Quiet Room (1996)
• Dance Me to My Song (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

References

1. "Notice bibliographique Bad Boy Bubby / Rolf de Heer, réal., scénario ; Graham Tardif, comp. ; Nicholas Hope, Claire Benito, Ralph Cotterill... [et al.], act". BnF Catalogue général - Bibliothèque nationale de France (in French). Archived from the original on 3 October 2016. Retrieved 1 March 2023.
2. ^ Starrs, D Bruno (1 June 2008). "Graham Tardif & the Aural Auteur". RealTime – Australia (85): 27. Archived from the original on 15 April 2019. Retrieved 28 February 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
3. Urban, Andrew L. (3 November 2017), "From The Tracker to Gladiator via Romper Stomper, Twenty Key Scores by Australians", Screen Hub
4. ^ Hope, Cat (2004). "Hearing the Story: Sound Design in the Films of Rolf de Heer". Senses of Cinema. Archived from the original on 20 September 2010. Retrieved 28 February 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
5. David Stratton, The Avocado Plantation: Boom and Bust in the Australian Film Industry, Pan MacMillan, 1990 p342
6. Scott Murray, "Tail of a Tiger", Australian Film 1978-1992, Oxford Uni Press, 1993 p178
7. "Graham Tardif". Australian Screen. Archived from the original on 15 September 2009. Retrieved 28 February 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
8. "Graham Tardif on ASO". ASO. Archived from the original on 20 August 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
9. "Graham Tardif – Composer – Biography, Photo, Best Movies and TV Shows". kinorium.com. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
10. "AFI Awards strong field". Filmnews. Vol. 18, no. 6. New South Wales, Australia. 1 July 1988. p. 3. Retrieved 21 November 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
11. "And the losers are ..." Filmnews. Vol. 18, no. 10. New South Wales, Australia. 1 November 1988. p. 7. Retrieved 21 November 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
12. "2002 Winners - Screen Music Awards". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Archived from the original on 8 March 2011. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
13. "ARIA Awards – History: Winners by Year 2002: 16th Annual ARIA Awards". Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). Archived from the original on 10 January 2012. Retrieved 10 January 2012.

• 1957 births
• Australian film score composers
• Australian male film score composers
• Living people