The feature debut from BAFTA-nominated Director Aleem Khan, After Love is set in the port town of Dover in the South-East of England, where a woman suddenly finds herself widowed following the unexpected death of her husband. A day after the burial, she discovers he has a secret just twenty-one miles across the English Channel in Calais.
The film was listed as part of the Cannes Critics’ Week Official Selection for 2020 and included in the TIFF Industry Selects strand. It premiered to great acclaim at the London Film Festival and Telluride.
The soundtrack was written and largely performed by Chris Roe, a composer and multi-instrumentalist with a string of impressive film and TV credits. The tracks also feature Alice Purton whose cello playing brings the work to life, evoking the wind, waves, seagulls and distant ferry horns of Dover and Calais.
After Love won Best Original Score at Les Arcs Film Festival. It follows Roe’s highly praised work on Armstrong, Spitfire and Children of the Snow Land – just three of his thirty screen credits since 2014.
“Scoring After Love was a dream project for me, and was intensely collaborative from start to finish,” said Roe. “Aleem and I worked closely with sound designer Joakim Sundström to blend the score and soundtrack together, and I was lucky enough to work with phenomenal cellist and improviser Alice Purton to explore how the cello could mimic the sounds of the sea and build the entire score just from one instrument.”
Classically trained as a pianist and string player and a graduate of the Royal College of Music, Chris draws on his background in contemporary experimental classical music, mixing a string/piano-based palette with a web of electronic and instrumental textures, always working tirelessly to build a distinctive sound for each project.
Chris has been fortunate to work with players from the RPO and the English Session Orchestra, as well as collaborating regularly with a range of soloists including Olivia Jageurs, the Dulcinea Quartet and the Fieri Consort, as well as founding and conducting his own group ANIMA, staging live musical performances alongside abstract animated films.
01) The Cliffs
02) Cracks
03) 27 Miles
04) Lighthouse
05) Baptism
06) The Truth
07) Home
08) Sediment
Follow Chris Roe:
