Janal Bechthold is a Canadian composer for film, television, and interactive media most known for creating scores for independent films such as psychological thriller "Art of Obsession", "Martin's Hagge" written by Gordon Pinsent and starring Sheila McCarthy, and video game "The Rival Books of Aster".
[1] Janal Bechthold attended Wilfrid Laurier University and received an honours bachelor of music therapy degree in 1998.
The recipient is selected through a peer review of professional screen composers to "encourage and support the hiring and use of live musicians in the production of media music soundtracks".
[5] At the first-annual Canadian Screen Music Awards (CASMA) held in 2022, Bechthold was awarded Best Original Score For Interactive Media alongside co-composer La-Nai Gabriel for the interactive graphic novel, "No Reason to Apologize: The Resilient Legacy of Viola Desmond".
[7] Janal Bechthold has been a member of the board of directors for the Screen Composers Guild of Canada (SCGC) since 2012.