Arrival: a sound choice for BAFTA award!

MONTREAL, February 12, 2017 – Director Denis Villeneuve’s hit sci-fi film Arrival has won

the prize for Best Sound at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards.

MELS congratulates the entire sound team for this remarkable achievement and is proud to

have played a role in so many aspects of this fascinating and technically challenging film,

which was shot in and around Montréal using MELS’ soundstages, facilities and equipment.

MELS applauds the talented trio behind this win – Claude La Haye (Production Sound Mixer),

Sylvain Bellemare (Supervising Sound Editor), and Bernard Gariepy Strobl (Re-recording

Mixer) – along with the staff who make up his outstanding MELS sound team.

Denis Villeneuve had a specific vision and very precise expectations for Arrival. He wanted to

be sure that the sound would not overwhelm the imagery, so one of the key challenges was to

achieve just the right balance between sound and image. Since sound was such a crucial part

of the film’s cinematographic language, the team also strived successfully to turn the sound

into a unique and memorable character of its own.

“I am thrilled that BAFTA has seen fit to recognize the enormous talent of Claude La Haye,

Sylvain Bellemare and Bernard Gariepy Strobl with the award for sound” said MELS President

Michel Trudel. “And this prize is a triumph for the entire MELS team. Québec film industry

talent is second to none and Arrival’s many nominations confirm that our people have the

industry-leading creativity and expertise to work with the world’s most distinguished directors

and help make films with the highest production values. We’re grateful to Denis Villeneuve

and producers Dan Levine, Shawn Levy, David Linde, Aaron Ryder and Mike Jackman at

FilmNation for the opportunity to have contributed to the success of this exciting project.”

Arrival was also voted the winner of the 4th Annual Award for Excellence in Sound for a

Feature Film by the members of the Association of Motion Picture Sound (AMPS). The award

was announced on February 6. MELS congratulates everyone who worked on the film and

wishes Arrival well at the February 26 Academy Awards, where it is in the running for eight

Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing.