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IMDbPro

Nainita Desai

  • Composer
  • Music Department
  • Sound Department
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
Nainita Desai
Emmy 2022 and RTS winning composer, Nainita Desai, was the World Soundtrack Awards 2021 winner for Discovery of the Year. A Ivor Novello and double BIFA awards nominee Nainita was described by Empire magazine as one of the top 5 composers to watch for in 2022 and in leading UK film critic Mark Kermode's Top 3 Film Scores of 2021. Nainita's recent projects include Oscar nominated and Bafta & Cannes winning film For Sama, the Emmy winning score for The Reason I Jump, the Netflix documentary 14 Peaks produced by Oscar winner Jimmy Chinn for which her score also earned her Emmy nomination, as well as the interactive film-video game Immortality that released August 2022 on Netflix games, Steam and Xbox Pass. Recent projects include, Crossfire (Keeley Hawes) for BBC1, The Tower (Gemma Whelan) for ITV, upcoming Funny Woman (Gemma Arterton) for SKY, a fantasy drama series for Disney+ as well as landmark series for Apple TV+ , James Cameron / Nat Geo, and 'Immortality' an interactive film trilogy / video game Bafta nominated American Murder [Netflix's most watched documentary of 2020]. Following a degree in Mathematics, Nainita began her career as a sound designer on feature films for directors including Werner Herzog and Bertolucci, as well as music engineering for Peter Gabriel. Nainita moves seamlessly between working with orchestras, to scores utilizing her collection of custom-made instruments, incorporating electronics, found sound, and experimental sound design which has informed her experimental, deeply immersive approach.

Nainita was born and brought up in London to Indian parents and her eclectic musical upbringing led her to studying the sitar, piano, guitar, tabla, singing and violin. Following a degree in Maths and attending the NFTS to study sound for film, As a sound designer, Nainita worked on feature films for Bertolucci (Little Buddha); and Werner Herzog (Lessons of Darkness) including Backbeat (Dir: Ian Softley), August (Dir: Anthony Hopkins), and cult cyber-feature Hackers (Angelina Jolie). Her passion for music technology then led to her working in music engineering with Peter Gabriel during the legendary Real World Recording Week sessions, and working with artists including Billy Cobham, Daniel Lanois, Jane Sibbery, Nigel Kennedy, Sinead O'Connor, and Ravi Shankar.
  • More at IMDbPro
    • Contact info
    • Agent info
    • Resume
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
  • View contact info at IMDbPro
  • Nominated for 1 Primetime Emmy
    • 8 wins & 18 nominations total

Photos

Bafta Breakthrough Brit 2016 Reception
Bafta Breakthrough Brit 2016 Reception
Bata Breakthrough Breakthrough Brits Launch Reception

Known for

14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible (2021)
14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible
7.7
  • Composer
  • 2021
For Sama (2019)
For Sama
8.5
  • Composer
  • 2019
Sourav Kumar in The Reason I Jump (2020)
The Reason I Jump
7.4
  • Composer
  • 2020
American Murder: The Family Next Door (2020)
American Murder: The Family Next Door
7.2
  • Composer
  • 2020

Credits

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IMDbPro

Composer

  • Hunters of the South Seas
    • Composer
    • Released
    • TV Series
    • 2015
  • Sweepstakes Hero
    • Composer
    • Post-production
  • The Tower (2021)
    The Tower
    • Composer
    • TV Series
    • 2021–2023
  • Phantom Parrot (2023)
    Phantom Parrot
    • Composer
    • 2023
  • Gemma Arterton in Funny Woman (2023)
    Funny Woman
    • Composer
    • TV Series
    • 2023
  • Call Me Dancer (2023)
    Call Me Dancer
    • Composer
    • 2023
  • The Deepest Breath (2023)
    The Deepest Breath
    • Composer
    • 2023
  • Predators (2022)
    Predators
    • Composer
    • TV Series
    • 2022
  • The Missing Children (2022)
    The Missing Children
    • Composer
    • TV Mini Series
    • 2022
  • Pietro Corradini in Villeneuve Pironi (2022)
    Villeneuve Pironi
    • Composer
    • 2022
  • Deann Borshay, Angela Davis, Peter Dinklage, Dr. Riyadh, Bonita Dearmond, and Mohamed Bangura in P.O.V. (1988)
    P.O.V.
    • Composer
    • TV Series
    • 2022
  • Keeley Hawes in Crossfire (2022)
    Crossfire
    • Composer
    • TV Mini Series
    • 2022
  • My Grandparents' War (2019)
    My Grandparents' War
    • Composer
    • TV Series
    • 2019–2022
  • The Bengali (2022)
    The Bengali
    • Composer
    • 2022
  • Manon Gage in Immortality (2022)
    Immortality
    • Composer
    • Video Game
    • 2022
  • First Blood (2022)
    First Blood
    • Composer
    • TV Series
    • 2022
  • Maryland
    • Composer
    • TV Movie
    • 2022

Music Department

  • Call Me Dancer (2023)
    Call Me Dancer
    • score
    • 2023
  • Pietro Corradini in Villeneuve Pironi (2022)
    Villeneuve Pironi
    • music
    • 2022
  • Neighbourhood Blues (2011)
    Neighbourhood Blues
    • title music
    • TV Series
    • 2017–2018
  • Tribes, Predators & Me (2016)
    Tribes, Predators & Me
    • music composed by
    • TV Series
    • 2016
  • The Confessions of Thomas Quick (2015)
    The Confessions of Thomas Quick
    • music: vocals
    • 2015
  • Checkpost (2014)
    Checkpost
    • composer: theme music
    • Short
    • 2014
  • Christopher Lawley in Revealed (2002)
    Revealed
    • music
    • TV Series
    • 2007
  • Who Got Diana Dors' Millions
    • music and sound design
    • TV Movie
    • 2003
  • Brunch
    • composer: title music
    • TV Series
    • 1997

Sound Department

  • Allen Stanford in The Man Who Bought Cricket (2022)
    The Man Who Bought Cricket
    • Composer
    • TV Mini Series
    • 2022
  • When the Tides Went Down (2020)
    When the Tides Went Down
    • sound designer
    • Short
    • 2020
  • Who Got Benny's Millions?
    • sound designer
    • TV Movie
    • 2002
  • Anthony Hopkins in August (1996)
    August
    • dialogue editor
    • 1996
  • Angelina Jolie and Jonny Lee Miller in Hackers (1995)
    Hackers
    • additional sound design
    • 1995
  • Brad Dourif and Ely Pouget in Death Machine (1994)
    Death Machine
    • sound designer
    • 1994
  • Fatherland (1994)
    Fatherland
    • assistant dialogue editor
    • TV Movie
    • 1994
  • Stephen Dorff, Ian Hart, and Sheryl Lee in Backbeat (1994)
    Backbeat
    • assistant sound editor
    • 1994
  • Little Buddha (1993)
    Little Buddha
    • assistant sound editor
    • 1993
  • Lessons of Darkness (1992)
    Lessons of Darkness
    • assistant sound editor (uncredited)
    • TV Movie
    • 1992

Personal details

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  • Official sites
    • Instagram
    • Official Site
  • Alternative names
    • Kalmita Desai

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