Janal Bechthold

Janal Bechthold is a Canadian Screen Music Award-winning composer specializing in film, TV, games, & interactive media. Known for weaving playful and dark moods with intelligence and emotional maturity, her work has been nominated for three Canadian Screen Awards: Marlene (Wendy Hill-Tout, starring Kristen Booth and Greg Bryk) nominated for Achievement in Music: Original Score, Company Town (CBC) and Cottagers and Indians (CBC) nominated for Best Original Score, Non-Fiction. Janal received the inaugural Canadian Screen Music Award (CASMA): Best Original Score for Interactive Media and a Hollywood Music in Media Award nomination for No Reason to Apologize: The Resilient Legacy of Viola Desmond (TEACH Media) alongside co-composer La-Nai Gabriel.

Janal has a keen interest in animation, scoring all 52 episodes of the animated series Millie Magnificent (Nelvana), and Super Wish Shorts (YTV/Discovery). She also worked as a music supervisor and song producer on productions such as Hotel Transylvania: The Series (Disney/Sony) Season 2, Corn and Peg (Nickelodeon) Seasons 1 & 2, and The Remarkable Mr King (Teletoon).

Other notable work includes co-composing Daytime Emmy Award-winning Ghostwriter (Apple TV+) Jungle Ghost 1 & 2, scoring VR documentary The Choice, video game Terrorarium, and interactive graphic novels, Dystopia 2153 and 80 Degrees North. Her music can be heard on Apple TV+, Lifetime, PBS, CBC, CTV, TSN, Discovery, screened at festivals such as SXSW, Hot Docs, IDFA, Whistler Film Festival, NY Horror, LA Shorts, Santa Barbara Film Festival, and used as testimony at the United Nations and the Supreme Court of India. Former Vice President of the Screen Composers Guild of Canada, Janal served on the Board of Directors of the SOCAN Foundation, and spearheaded the research report "Gender in the Canadian Screen Composing Industry”.