Biography

Hanan Townshend is composer and pianist known for his poetic orchestral and ambient film scoring. He is a frequent collaborator with legendary director Terrence Malick, breaking into film with his piano arrangements for Palme d’Or winning film, The Tree of Life (2011). He scored Malick’s To the Wonder (2014), collaborating with acclaimed record producer Daniel Lanois and Knight of Cups (2015), starring Cate Blanchett, Natalie Portman, and Christian Bale, as well as his IMAX documentary Voyage of Time (2016). Other features he has scored include Carlo Hintermann’s The Book of Vision (2020), the opening film for Venice Critics’ Week starring Charles Dance, Oscar-nominated director Henry Alex Rubin’s Semper Fi (2019), and Julio Quintana’s breakout Netflix film, Blue Miracle (2021). Townshend has also gained acclaim for his work in documentary film, including collaborations with Academy Award-winning director, Megan Mylan’s film Simple As Water (2021), the Emmy-award winning docu-series Outcry (2020), the Emmy and Critics Choice award-winning Disgraced (2017) directed by Pat Kondelis, and Drew Xanthopolous’ Tribeca competition documentary and Apple TV+ film Fathom (2021). Townshend is a New Zealand-born composer and pianist, graduating from the New Zealand School of Music at Victoria University, and also studying film scoring and pop music production at the University of Texas. He works on international projects from his studio in Austin, Texas.