By Esther Lauaki
A Point Cook film composer has hit the big time.
Chee-Wei Tay can add “Emmy nominated” to his job title with two documentaries he composed scores for up for awards at the 40th Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards in New York next month.
Decoding the Weather Machine is nominated for Outstanding Science and Technology Documentary and Black Hole Apocalypse for its writing. Both documentaries appeared in the PBS series NOVA last year.
The series made its debut internationally last month on Netflix reaching more than five million viewers weekly.
Tay, who has worked in film for 20 years, said he has been struggling to comprehend the exciting news.
“I’m really surprised, I never expected anything like this,” he told
Star Weekly.
“My first reaction was, ‘Are you kidding me?’
“I’ve won film festival awards before but nothing this big.
“The Emmy’s seems like something so surreal … it’s pretty big. It’s so far fetched in my mind … I’ve always just worked hard.”
Tay worked for three months to score both films.
Decoding the Weather Machine follows scientists investigating climate change, from Greenland’s ice sheet to the desert of Australia.
“I was really surprised that the documentary did well because in America climate change is such a controversial subject,” he said.
Black Hole Apocalypse explores astrophysicists theories on how black holes might hold answers to how the universe evolved.
The awards ceremony will be held on September 24 in New York.
