Info
T. Griffin is a songwriter, composer and producer based in Brooklyn New York. Best known for his atmospheric film scores, he has created distinctive music for over 70 feature-length films and series in wildly divergent styles. He has collaborated on dozens of live multidisciplinary projects, which have been presented internationally, from the Barbican in London to to the Big Ears Festival, to BAM's Next Wave. He was one of six composers selected as a fellow at the Sundance Composer's lab in 2008 and has been nominated twice for CinemaEye Honors for original music score. In 2021 he was inducted into the Academy of Motion Pictures.
News
PHOTOGRAPHER series on Disney Plus
Nat Geo's PHOTOGRAPHER, Executive produced by Jimmy Chin and Chai Vasarhelyi, premieres on March 18th. T. Griffin scored three of the six episodes, with a totally different score for each. Look for the episodes on Anand Varma, Krystal Wright and Mohammad Muheisen directed by Marshall Curry, Kristi Jacobson and Rita Baghdadi, respectively.
Sundance 2024
Two films scored by T. Griffin premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival: GIRLS STATE, and LOVE MACHINA
In LOVE MACHINA, directed by Pete Sillen, Futurists Martine and Bina Rothblatt commission an advanced humanoid AI named Bina48 to transfer Bina’s consciousness from a human to a robot in an attempt to continue their once-in-a-galaxy love affair for the rest of time. (note: this is a d o c u m e n t a r y).
GIRLS STATE, directed by Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss asks "what would American democracy look like in the hands of teenage girls?" A political coming-of-age story and a stirring reimagination of what it means to govern, “Girls State" follows young female leaders — from wildly different backgrounds across Missouri — as they navigate an immersive experiment to build a government from the ground up. (This is the sibling film to 2020's Grand Jury Prize winner, BOYS STATE.)
SAVIOR COMPLEX
Jackie Jesko's heart-stopping three-episode series for HBO is streaming now on Max.
LOVE TO LOVE YOU, DONNA SUMMER
Roger Ross-Williams and Brooklyn Sudano's deeply personal and form-bending documentary is now streaming on HBO, with T. Griffin's original score alongside Summer's iconic music.
PRETTY BABY: BROOKE SHIELDS
Lana Wilson's two part portrait of the cultural icon Brooke Shields premiered to acclaim at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and was the most-watched ABC documentary ever, when it broadcast on Hulu. Original score by T. Griffin.
KEEP SWEET
This four-episode series goes deep (and dark) into the takeover of the FLDS polygamist Mormon sect by Warren Jeffs, and tells the story of the women to banded together to try and bring him down. Now Streaming. Original score by T. Griffin.
TENDER PRESENCE
Tender Presence is an immersive installation by Jill Magid with film and music that will be installed for two weekends in an abandoned DIMES savings bank in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Griffin has composed the score for the installation, and it will be performed live for two weekends, April 29 - May 1 and May 6 - May 8. The ensemble includes Titilayo Ayangade, Griffin, Joy Guidry, Catherine McRae and Jay Rodriguez. This production of Creative Time is free, but requires a reservation in advance. Some showing are already fully booked. See you there!
SUNDANCE 2022
Ramin Bahrani's 2ND CHANCE will premiere at Sundance 2022. It's the story of a bankrupt pizza-shop owner who invented the modern-day bullet-proof vest, shot himself in the chest 192 times to prove that it worked, and became a cult hero among police. See you there!
THE PROPOSAL OST
Legendary Montreal label Constellation Records has released the OST of Jill Magid's art-world docu-thriller THE PROPOSAL. CD, Digital and deluxe vinyl release available now.
"...fuzzy visualisation of Barragans hidden works, bright progressions shot through with primary colours and natural light." (**** Mojo Magazine)
STREET GANG: How We Got to Sesame Street
Marilyn Agrelo's rolicking documentary about the inception of the most famous street in the world is now streaming on HBO Max. The score, by T. Griffin features playing by Jaimie Branch, Chad Taylor, Sebastian Cruz and Jason Ajemian.
THE SMELL OF WET CLAY
Legendary Montreal label Constellation Records will release the OST of Jill Magid's art-world docu-thriller THE PROPOSAL this spring. In anticipation, T. Griffin contributed a collaboration with Jill to the Constellation Corona Borealis Longplay Singles Series, which is available as a bonus track when you pre-order the album.
Sundance 2021
Two films with T. Griffin scores will be premiering at the reimagined Sundance Film Festival.
CUSP is Parker Hill and Isabel Bethencourt's quietly astonishing fever dream about a group of teenage girls confronting the dark corners of adolescence over one summer, somewhere in Texas. It premieres in the Documentary Competition.
STREET GANG is a dream of another kind. Marilyn Agrelo tells the unlikely creation story of Sesame Street and the band of rebels who dreamed up the most famous street in the world, and changed the world in the process.
LOVE FRAUD
Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady's four episode docu-thriller LOVE FRAUD premieres August 30th on SHOWTIME Networks.
Sundance Grand Jury Prize Winner, BOYS STATE from Apple and A24 is streaming now.
SUNDANCE 2020
Two Projects with T. Griffin scores were presented at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady's 4 episode docu-thriller series LOVE FRAUD is the first episodic project to ever be premiered on opening night, and Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine's BOYS STATE premiered in the Documentary Competition. BOYS STATE won the Grand Jury Prize and was picked up for distribution by A24 and Apple TV+ in the largest deal ever made for a documentary film at Sundance.
LOVE FRAUD
A four episode Showtime series in which an unlikely group of women, aided by a chain-smoking bounty hunter named Carla, band together to track down a serial romantic con-artist who had victimized each of them. In the process become their own heroes.
BOYS STATE
An electoral docu-thriller from Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine in which a thousand 17 year old boys get together to try to form a government in 7 days.
BMI Composer / Director Roundtable Sundance 2020
In which 9 composer/director pairs who are premiering at Sundance get together on stage to talk about the process of collaborating on original score.
News
WRINKLES THE CLOWN
Wrinkles the Clown, directed by Michael Beach Nichols released theatrically via Magnet October 2019
Wrinkles the Clown OST
Wrinkles the Clown Original Soundtrack available via all streaming services or to buy via Bandcamp. Features contributions from Jaimie Branch, Guy Picciotto and Jim white.
UNNATURAL SELECTION
Unnatural Selection, a four-episode head-spinner about gene hacking is out now on Netflix
THE FAMILY
The Family, Jesse Moss' five-episode exploration of the secretive Christian sect with vast influence in governments around the world is out now on Netflix
The Proposal
Jill Magid's hypnotic docu-thriller about artistic legacy, THE PROPOSAL will be released by Osciloscope in 2019. A soundtrack release is planned as well!
One of Us
Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady's stunning portrait of three people leaving Brooklyn Hasidic communities. Shortlisted for the Academy Award. Now streaming on Netflix.
Kronos Quartet & Sam Green
Kronos Quartet performs T. Griffin's music for Por Vida! with Sam Green as a part of the Kronos Festival in May
The Apollo Opens Tribeca Film Festival
T. Griffin composed the opening theme and additional music alongside Robert Glasper's score for Academy Award nominated director Roger Ross-Williams' The Apollo, which opening the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival. It will premiere on HBO in the fall.
Tribeca Film Festival 2019
Four Films with T. Griffin music are premiering at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival. Rewind and The Dog Doc are in the Documentary Competition, Boca del Lobo is in the Short Film category, and The Apollo by Roger Ross Williams, for which T. Griffin did the Main Title and additional scoring is the opening night film.
Series in 2019
Griffin is currently scoring three new limited series, two for Netflix and one for Showtime. Details are under wraps, but expect them to broadcast in 2019... stay tuned!
Quest
Ten years in the making, 2018 Sundance Sensation QUEST opened the season for PBS' POV series.
Dirty Money
Netflix head-spinning series about financial crimes, DIRTY MONEY features two episodes scored by T. Griffin. Check out PAYDAY and CARTEL BANK. Now streaming.
End Game
Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman's tender look at end-of-life was nominated for an Oscar. Now streaming on Netflix.
Active Shooter
T. Griffin scored the eight episode Showtime documentary series Active Shooter. Fridays at 9 PM.
Life, Animated Nominated for an Academy Award
Life, Animated has been nominated for a 2017 Best Documentary Oscar!
SUNDANCE 2017
Jon Olshevsky's QUEST premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival in the Documentary Competition.
Life, Animated
Life, Animated: Academy Award winning director Roger Ross Williams premiered Life, Animated in Documentary Competition at Sundance 2016 and was awarded the Best Director prize. Called "Incredibly moving" by The Guardian, the film features animation by MacGuff and a super-saturated electronic score co-composed by T. Griffin and Dylan Stark. The film has gone on to play at True/False, Miami, Full Frame, Tribeca, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sheffield, Sundance London, Montclair and Nantucket film festivals, opening or closing many of them. Theatrical release via The Orchard, broadcasting on A & E.
Burt Reynolds Documentary at SXSW
Jesse Moss, the director of 2014 Sundance sensation "The Overnighters" premiered his documentary about Burt Reynolds, Hal Needham and the making of "Smokey and the Bandit" at the South By Southwest Film Festival this March. T. Griffin provides the "disco-porno-country" score. Broadcast will be on CMT in 2016.
Solitary
Kristi Jacobson's film Solitary is a document of her unprecedented access to Red Onion Supermax prison, where all the inmates are in Solitary confinement, many for years, or even decades at a time. T. Griffin's eerie, percussive score was created from recordings of circular saw blades, bowed vibraphone and manipulated recordings of Red Onion itself. Solitary premiered at Tribeca Film Festival and will be broadcast on HBO in 2016.
The Measure of all Things
T. Griffin, Brendan Canty (Fugazi) and Catherine McRae have collaborated on a live score to Academy Award Nominee Sam Green's presentation about the Guinness Book of World Records: The Measure of all Things. It premiered at Hot Docs Film Festival in Toronto, April 27th, 2014 and has since performed all over the world, from Warsaw to Bentonville. On August 26th it was featured at the David Byrne curated MeltDown festival in London.
WELCOME TO LEITH Score Release
The score for Michael Beach Nichols and Christopher Walker's WELCOME TO LEITH is out!
EVOLUTION OF A CRIMINAL Score Release
The score for the Darius Clark Monroe's Spike Lee-produced film EVOLUTION OF A CRIMINAL is out now! Available in our shop, or on iTunes now!
We Have an Anchor in London and Paris
We Have an Anchor plays London's Barbican and Paris' Sonic Protest festival March 31st and April 2nd and 3rd. This live film/music event directed by Jem Cohen features original music performed live by a band made up of T. Griffin, Guy Picciotto (Fugazi), Jim White (Dirty Three), Jessica Moss (Thee Silver Mt. Zion) and Efrim Menuck and Sophie Trudeau (Godspeed You! Black Emperor) with guest vocals by Mira Bilotte (White Magic). Here's what the New York Times had to say when it was presented in New York as a part of the BAM Next Wave Festival in September of 2013.
THE OVERNIGHTERS Score Release
The score for Jesse Moss' staggering Oscar-shortlisted documentary is out now! Available in our shop, or on iTunes now!
Streaming now on Netflix
The Overnighters, Evolution of a Criminal, E-TEAM and Vessel are all currently streaming on Netflix.
Three Films to screen at Full Frame 2015
Three films with T. Griffin scores will premiere at the Full Frame Film Festival in North Carolina this April. TOCANDO LA LUZ (TOUCH THE LIGHT) and HERE COME THE VIDEOFREEX will receive their world premieres and KINGDOM OF SHADOWS will screen.
KINGDOM OF SHADOWS premieres at SXSW 2015
KINGDOM OF SHADOWS, Bernardo Ruiz' intimate look at three lives touched by the drug trade on both sides of the Texas / Mexico border will receive its world premiere at the South By Southwest Film Festival this march.
WELCOME TO LEITH at Sundance 2015
Welcome to Leith premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in the Documentary Competition. Rolling Stone called it "one of the 10 best things we saw at Sundance", and it got a glowing mention in the New York Times' wrap-up as well. The nightmarish score features playing by Brendan Canty (Fugazi), downtown reed phenomenon Matt Bauder and the amazing experimental electronic artist, Tim Hecker. Look for it to terrify audiences near you soon!
E-TEAM Score Release
The score for the Sundance Award-Winning film by Katy Chevigny and Ross Kauffman is out! Available in our shop now!
October Openings
THREE films with T. Griffin scores opened this October, and all three of them played New York's IFC Center. The Overnighters, Evolution of a Criminal and E-TEAM continue their theatrical barnstorming all fall.
Captivated: The Pamela Smart Story
Jeremiah Zagar's look at the media circus surrounding Pamela Smart's murder trial premiered at Sundance and is currently playing on HBO. T. Griffin composed music for several scenes, alongside Zoe Keating and Johann Johannson.
The Newburgh Sting
Kate Davis and David Heilbroner's expose of an FBI terrorism sting in Newburgh, NY is in rotation on HBO.
Evolution of a Criminal
Darius Clark Monroe's meditation on his incarceration at age 16 for robbing a Texas bank premiered at South By Southwest 2014, and took home the Grand Jury Prize at the Full Frame Film Festival. Executive Produced by Spike Lee, look for this film in theaters later in the year!
Sundance 2014
T. Griffin composed scores for TWO of the 16 films that premiered in the Documentary competition of the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. E-TEAM and The Overnighters premiered in Park City Utah to rave reviews. The Overnighters took home a special jury prize in the Documentary Competition, and E-Team was awarded the cinematography prize. Here are a few of the reviews, so far:
For The Overnighters
Variety
The Hollywood Reporter
"The score by Brooklyn musician T. Griffin is highly atmospheric, blending sounds that fit the region - guitar, banjo, harmonica - with somber electronics that reflect the darker veins being explored in this boomtown chronicle." - Hollywood Reporter
For E-TEAM
Variety
"David Teague's editing is tight as a drum, while T. Griffin's pulse-pounding music keeps the audience in the action." - Variety
The Hollywood Reporter
"E-Team packs editorial punch in no small part to editor David Teague's powerful, swift calibrations, as well as T. Griffin's percussive score." - Hollywood Reporter
Two Live Soundtracks
We Have an Anchor was presented in New York as a part of the BAM Next Wave Festival for three nights in September of 2013. This live film/music event directed by Jem Cohen features original music performed live by a band made up of T. Griffin, Guy Picciotto (Fugazi), Jim White (Dirty Three), Jessica Moss (Thee Silver Mt. Zion) and Efrim Menuck and Sophie Trudeau (Godspeed You! Black Emperor) with guest vocals by Mira Bilotte (White Magic). Here's what the New York Times had to say.
A Love Letter to the Fog will be presented in San Francisco at the Exploratorium October 2nd and 3rd. This live documentary directed by Sam Green, academy-award nominated director of The Weather Underground features an original score performed live by T. Griffin and Catherine McRae from The Quavers, Brendan Canty (Fugazi), and Matt Bauder (Sway Machinery)
Informant, by Jamie Meltzer opened theatrically in New York and LA and on iTunes September 13th. It was the top documentary on iTunes for two weeks running. For a complete list of theaters see Music Box Films
The score for The Education of Mohammad Hussein, by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady (Jesus Camp, Detropia) is available now in our shop and on iTunes.
California Solo is available now on DVD and VOD. Find it: www.californiasolo.com.
A Will for the Woods won the audience award at the Full Frame Documentary Festival.
INFORMANT won the Grand Jury prize at the DocNYC festival.
The Quavers, T. Griffin's band project with Dennis Cronin and Catherine McRae, have released a new album FELL ASLEEP ON A TRAIN. Preview and buy it now at thequavers.com. The New Yorker calls it "Brooding and beautiful", Time Out NY calls it "more than worth the wait".
Catherine McRae, T. Griffin and Sam Green joined San Francisco's phenomenon, Pop Up Magazine, to present a short film/music/essay piece on fog to 3000 people at Davies Symphony Hall. An expanded version of the piece will be presented at NYC's River to River festival on June 20th. Brendan Canty (Fugazi) and Matt Bauder will join the band.
The soundtrack album for California Solo, starring Robert Carlyle is available now on iTunes. It features T. Griffin's score, as well as the title song by Swervedriver's Adam Franklin, sung by Franklin, and again by Carlyle himself. California Solo opened in New York on Nov. 30, and LA on Dec 7 via Strand Releasing.
Dragonslayer is screening on Showtime.
The Education of Mohammed Hussein, a film by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady featuring a score by T. Griffin has been shortlisted for an oscar nomination. It will be broadcast on HBO later this year.
La Camioneta got the kind of Variety Review that every director dreams of.
Informant, Jamie Meltzer's Doc about FBI informant Brandon Darby premiered at the San Francisco International Film Festival 04/22/2012! The excellent Variety Review singled out the original music as a “notable plus.” Informant will be featured at IDFA and the DocNYC festival.
Sam Green's video installation about Buckminster Fuller at SF MoMA featured original music composed and recorded for the project by T. Griffin. It ran March through July 2012.
After a theatrical run and excellent reviews Liza Johnson's debut feature Return is available on VOD, including iTunes. It stars Linda Cardelini and Michael Shannon. Says Time Out New York: “this is what independent cinema should be.”
T. Griffin received his second Cinema Eye Award nomination for Original Score in as many years for Dragonslayer. in 2011, he was nominated for Utopia in Four Movements.