Elizabethtown College alumnus Kory Hilpmann ‘17 won silver in the Best Music/Film Score category for his animated short film, “Beanstalk” at the International New York Film Festival (INYFF) 2021.
Hilpmann, who earned his bachelor’s degree in Music with a minor in Communications, currently works as a film composer in Wernersville, Pa. He collaborated with animator and co-director Tom Cassese to create “Beanstalk” after writing a piece of orchestral music inspired by the classic story of, “Jack and the Beanstalk.” Hilpmann also created the sound design and foley for the short film.
“I’m so honored to win my first award for best original score at a film festival,” said Hilpmann. Beanstalk was such a fun and unique project to work on. The music was actually done first before I brought on Tom Cassese to animate the story, which is backward from the typical film-scoring process. This made it a cool learning experience for both of us!”
The short film has enjoyed resounding success, having been accepted into seven film festivals and winning four awards.
Hilpmann credits much of his success to his learning experiences at Etown and is thankful for the guidance of his mentor, Etown Professor of Music Jim Haines ‘81.
“My one-on-one composition lessons with Dr. Jim Haines (Profesor of Music) during my time at Etown allowed for a range of creativity and flexibility in what I studied and composed,” said Hilpmann. “Those one-on-one Etown composition sessions really allowed me the freedom to practice composing for the mediums I was passionate about, including film composing.”
“Beanstalk” is available to view by selecting the film poster on Hilpmann’s site.