# Alex Heffes

Alex Heffes (/ˈhɛfəs/; born 2 September 1971) is a British film composer. His film scores include those for the BAFTA-winning Touching the Void, and Oscar-winning movies One Day in September, The Last King of Scotland, and Inside Job. Heffes was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score for his work on Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.

## Early life and career

Heffes was born in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, and learned the piano from an early age. He graduated from Oxford University with first class honours and started his professional life playing keyboards and writing and arranging for commercials and TV (his band is featured playing in jazz club scenes in the film Circus). This led to him becoming assistant to composer Simon Boswell with whom he scored over 20 movies including A Midsummer Night's Dream and Cousin Bette. He also collaborated on Elton John's score to Women Talking Dirty and worked with members of Blur.

## Film scoring

In 1999, after a chance meeting with Kevin Macdonald he wrote the score to the Oscar winning documentary One Day in September. This led to a long collaboration with Macdonald, on films such as Touching the Void, State of Play and The Last King of Scotland. During the production of Last King of Scotland he travelled to Uganda to produce the songs and score in the movie. He has worked with many notable directors including Stephen Frears (The Program), Mira Nair (Queen of Katwe), Justin Chadwick (The First Grader, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom), Peter Webber (Emperor) and Catherine Hardwick (Red Riding Hood). He contributed additional arrangements to Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd.
In 2011 he released his first solo album, Face to Face. The album was created by improvising on location in a series of one on one collaborations with artists such as Regina Spektor, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Tunde Jegede. The tracks with Matthew Barley were recorded in the Turbine Hall of the Tate Modern in London.
He has been nominated for a Golden Globe, a BAFTA and won an Ivor Novello Award in 2012 for The First Grader.
He always conducts his own orchestral scores and frequently plays piano on his scores.

## Works
### Film score

| Year | Film | Director(s) | Studio(s) | Notes |
| 1999 | One Day in September | Kevin Macdonald | Passion Pictures | — |
| 2000 | Circus | Rob Walker | Circus Pictures Film Development Corporation | with Simon Boswell |
| 2000 | Humphrey Jennings: The Man Who Listened to Britain | Kevin Macdonald | Figment TV Productions | — |
| 2000 | A Brief History of Errol Morris | Kevin Macdonald | Independent Film Channel | — |
| 2001 | Mind Games | Richard Standeven | La Plante Productions | with Simon Boswell |
| 2001 | Late Night Shopping | Saul Metzstein | FilmFour Glasgow Film Office | — |
| 2001 | The Parole Officer | John Duigan | DNA Films | — |
| 2002 | Offside | Rachel Tillotson | BBC | Short |
| 2003 | Touching the Void | Kevin Macdonald | FilmFour | — |
| 2004 | Trauma | Marc Evans | Warner Bros. | — |
| 2004 | Dear Frankie | Shona Auerbach | Pathé Pictures | — |
| 2004 | Out of Reach | Po-Chih Leong | Franchise Pictures | — |
| 2005 | Too Fat Too Furious | Tim Oliehoek | Fu Works | — |
| 2005 | Imagine Me & You | Ol Parker | BBC Films | — |
| 2006 | The Bridge | Eric Steel | IFC Films | — |
| 2006 | Shiny Shiny Bright New Hole in My Heart | Marc Munden | BBC Films | — |
| 2006 | The Last King of Scotland | Kevin Macdonald | Fox Searchlight Pictures DNA Films FilmFour | - |
| 2007 | My Enemy's Enemy | Kevin Macdonald | Wild Bunch | — |
| 2009 | State of Play | Kevin Macdonald | Universal Pictures Working Title Films | — |
| 2009 | Jasim | Peter Webber | SNDCOC | Short |
| 2010 | Inside Job | Charles Ferguson | Sony Pictures Classics | — |
| 2010 | The First Grader | Justin Chadwick | BBC Films UK Film Council | — |
| 2011 | The Rite | Mikael Håfström | New Line Cinema TriBeCa Productions Warner Bros. Pictures | — |
| 2011 | Red Riding Hood | Catherine Hardwicke | Warner Bros. Appian Way | with Brian Reitzell |
| 2011 | Stolen | Justin Chadwick | BBC | — |
| 2011 | The Engagement | John Duigan | First Foot Films | — |
| 2012 | Emperor | Peter Webber | Krasnoff Foster Productions United Performers' Studio | — |
| 2013 | Love and Honor | Danny Mooney | IFC Films | — |
| 2013 | Escape Plan | Mikael Håfström | Emmett/Furla Films Summit Entertainment | — |
| 2013 | Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom | Justin Chadwick | Pathé | — |
| 2014 | What We Did on Our Holiday | Andy Hamilton Guy Jenkin | BBC Films | — |
| 2015 | Palio | Cosima Spender | Palio Pictures | — |
| 2015 | Ten Billion | Peter Webber | Oxford Film & Television | — |
| 2015 | The Program | Stephen Frears | StudioCanal Working Title Films | — |
| 2016 | Sky Ladder: The Art of Cai Guo-Qiang | Kevin Macdonald | Netflix | — |
| 2016 | The Take (Bastille Day) | James Watkins | StudioCanal Anonymous Content | — |
| 2016 | Queen of Katwe | Mira Nair | Walt Disney Pictures ESPN Films | — |
| 2017 | Earth: One Amazing Day | Richard Dale, Lixin Fan, Peter Webber | BBC Earth Films | Score nominated for an IFMCA Award |
| 2018 | Pickpockets | Peter Webber | Netflix | — |
| 2019 | Miss Bala | Catherine Hardwicke | Columbia Pictures | — |
| 2019 | The Elephant Queen | Victoria Stone & Mark Deeble | Apple TV+ | — |
| 2019 | Hope Gap | William Nicholson | Curzon Artificial Eye | — |
| 2020 | The Big Ugly | Scott Wiper | Vertical Entertainment | — |
| 2020 | The 24th | Kevin Willmott | Vertical Entertainment | — |
| 2020 | Ronnie's | Oliver Murray | Greenwich Entertainment | — |
| 2021 | The Arctic: Our Last Great Wilderness | Myles Connolly and Florian Schulz | Cosmic Picture Distribution | — |
| 2021 | Intrusion | Adam Salky | Netflix | — |
| 2023 | Mafia Mamma | Catherine Hardwicke | Bleecker Street | — |

### Television

| Year | Title | Studio/Channel | Notes |
| 1997 | Killer Net | Channel 4 Television Corporation | with Simon Boswell miniseries |
| 2002 | Stan the Man | ITV | 6 episode miniseries |
| 2006 | Tsunami: The Aftermath | BBC HBO Films | 2 part miniseries |
| 2012 | Secret State | Company Pictures Channel 4 | 4 episode miniseries |
| 2016 | 11.22.63 | Bad Robot Warner Bros. Television | Hulu limited series 8 episodes |
| 2016 | Roots | History Channel | 4 part miniseries |
| 2016 | Black Mirror Series 3 Episode 3: Shut Up and Dance | Netflix | - |
| 2018 | Next of Kin episodes 1-3 | Mammoth Screen ITV | 6 part miniseries, music for episodes 4-6 composed by Peter Bateman |
| 2020 | A Suitable Boy | BBC One | 6 episode miniseries |

## Awards and nominations

* Nominated: 2007 BAFTA TV Awards Best Original Television Music - Tsunami: The Aftermath
* Nominated: 2007 European Film Award, European Composer - The Last King of Scotland
* Won: 2009 ASCAP Award for Top Box Office Films - State of Play
* Won: 2011 World Soundtrack Awards, Discovery of the Year - The First Grader, The Rite
* Nominated: 2012 Black Reel Awards, Best Original Score - The First Grader
* Nominated: 2012 Image Awards, Outstanding Soundtrack Album - The First Grader
* Won: 2012 Ivor Novello Awards, Best Original Film Score - The First Grader
* Nominated: 2013 Golden Globe Awards Best Original Score for a Motion Picture - Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
* Nominated: 2016 Online Film & Television Association Awards, Best Music in a Non-Series - Roots (2016)
* Won: 2016 Hollywood Music In Media Awards, Original Score for a TV Show/Mini Series - Roots (2016)
* Nominated: 2021 Ivor Novello Awards, Best Original Film Score - A Suitable Boy