Ratcliffe, who is head engineer at Sound & Motion Studios, said he got ‘the fright of his life’ when the team’s name was called, since the competition was ‘very stiff’.

The accolade for Best Sound Design for a Feature Film, known as the Golden Horn, is highly sought after.

‘It was a wonderful privilege to accept the award on behalf of Sound & Motion, as well as the incredibly talented Daniel Caleb and James Matthes from Pressure Cooker Studios,’ he said.

The film ‘Retribution’ was written and directed by Mukunda Michael Dewil, who is currently making waves in the US with his ‘Vehicle 19’ script, and was produced by Moonlighting Films.

‘Working with Moonlighting was a rare treat,’ said Ratcliffe. ‘Everything was meticulously organised… [and] we were given a range of freedom and trust which had a fantastic impact on our workflow.’

‘It was also a pleasure to work with Mukunda, who knew exactly what he wanted and treated every aspect of the production with a calm respect.’

Subhead: Sound stars in New York and Johannesburg

Ratcliffe’s studio Sound & Motion continued their winning streak in film sound production when Greg Rom’s short film ‘Loot’ walked away from the New York Short Film Festival with the Audience Choice Award.

Rom approached Sound & Motion to cover all aspects of the audio. Ratcliffe recorded the orchestral score for the film with composer Matthijs van Dijk in Cape Town, while in Johannesburg, Richard West and James Oliver took care of foley and sound design, ADR/loop group and editing.

‘When you’re working with Greg, you know you’re bound to be in for something special,’ said Ratcliffe. ‘This film, a heart-lifting whimsical tale based around a bank robbery reminiscent of Wes Anderson, is an absolute dream for sound.’

And to complete the hat trick, Ratcliffe’s studio in Johannesburg headed by Richard West, participated in The international 48-hour film project, where they formed part of the team that had to script, shoot, edit, score and final mix a short movie in only 48 hours.

The movie that resulted, ‘Fold’’, won the Audience Award for Best Picture, as well as receiving a number of other nominations.