Original score from the Academy Award nominated 2019 drama feature film directed by Derek Tsang, starring Dongyu Zhou, Jackson Yee and Ye Zhou, produced by Shooting Pictures and released by Well Go (USA) and Magnum Films (UK).

THE STORY: A bullied teenage girl forms an unlikely friendship with a mysterious young man who protects her from her assailants, all while she copes with the pressures of her final examinations.

THE SCORE: “In our early discussions about the score, [director] Derek Tsang was very adamant that we should treat Chen Nian and Xiao Bei’s story with sufficient gravity and seriousness. I’m really grateful for this approach, as there is easily a tendency to gravitate towards sensationalism when you have two of the most famous talents in China on screen. We went through many revisions to find the right sonic palette, keeping in mind the innocence and optimism that lies stubborn in youth, but being a little more daring when it came time to lay bare the juxtaposing reality of the cruelty of human nature. In doing so, we tailored the sound of the pianos for each scene in order to strike the right emotional tone for that moment, and even musical drones and pads were slowly crafted over time to ensure every sound heard in the film adds value to the characters’ experience. Much like telling the story of a close friend, I was motivated to approach it truthfully and with much care and sincerity.” – Varqa Buehrer

THE COMPOSER: A graduate from the University of Southern California (USC) Screen Scoring program, Varqa Buehrer originally worked as an apprentice under three time Grammy Award nominated producer Photek, composer of the Emmy-winning series How to Get Away With Murder. Better Days marks Varqa’s first feature-length score, his most recent credit is the 12-part crime series The Long Night, directed by his childhood friend, If Chen.

MMS21036 BETTER DAYS (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Music Composed by VARQA BUEHRER
Release date (digital): June 18, 2021