The Best of Mix Sound For Film – Awards Season: Emilia Pérez

Los Angeles, CA (January 21, 2025)—Our recent Mix Presents Sound For Film: Awards Season all-day virtual event highlighted some of the most amazing work happening in motion picture sound right now. We spoke with 13 sound teams from some of the top films released in 2024; here’s one of the most notable moments and insights from the day:

Cyril Holtz, Sound Supervisor/ Re-Recording Mixer

“[‘El Alegato’] was the first scene for Rita [Zoe Saldana] and the first song in the film. It was very complex because we had many elements, but we took a pragmatic approach. This scene was like a statement about the genre and also about what we would do afterward in the film, so it was a bit like a mountain to climb, but it was a statement. Then near the end is a wonderful scene with the song ‘El Mal.’ It was a difficult one for me in the mix because it was a wild scene and a very declarative one. Jacques [Audiard, director] insisted on that scene being very wild, very powerful, and about Rita’s state of mind. At the same time, there is a lot of movement, as usual with Jacques. A few years before, I was working on a French dub version of his film The Sisters Brothers and he was not convinced about the feeling with the voices—he always found it was too motionless. I came up with an idea of creating a tool that would replicate body movements and even boom movements. All that to say that a longtime collaboration with the director can be very enriching. Otherwise, that scene was all about direction and construction.”