Ella van der Woude is an award-winning Swiss-Dutch film composer. Her work includes the drama
Armand (2024) by Halfdan Ullman Tøndel, the psychological thriller
Instinct (2019) by Halina Reijn, and the road movie
Take Me Somewhere Nice (2019) by Ena Sendijarević. In 2020, she released her album
Solo Piano on Snowstar Records. Recorded in her tiny apartment at the time, the album offers a melodious and emotional approach to memories and goodbyes, as it sways between minimalist, neoclassical, and ambient moods.
In 2022,
Ella became the first female film composer to win a
Golden Calf for Nico van den Brink’s horror film
Moloch (2022). In 2025, she won her
second Golden Calf for her score for Jan-Willem van Ewijk’s family drama
Alpha (2024), and remains the only female composer to have received a Golden Calf. With the soundtrack for
Armand, she won the
Prix de la meilleure création sonore at Cannes together with sound designer Mats Lid Støten.
In 2026
Ella van der Woude created the intimate soundtrack for
How to Shoot a Ghost — the short film by director
Charlie Kaufman (director of
Synecdoche, New York, writer of
Being John Malkovich, and Oscar winner for
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind).
How to Shoot a Ghost was performed by
Alistair Sung (cello),
Hristo Goleminov (saxophone),
Brent Arnold (cello), and
Ella van der Woude (piano, synthesizer). The film premiered at the 2025 Venice Film Festival, starring
Jessie Buckley (Oscar nominee for Best Actress for her role in
Hamnet) and
Josef Akiki. Both of their voices can be heard on the movie soundtrack.
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