GHC Alumna Cathryn S. Davis Wins Major Film Award for 'Spirit of Grays Harbor'
Posted on: Oct, 9, 2025
Editor's Note (October 13, 2025): This article was updated to correct an error in reporting on the funding source of this project.
Grays Harbor College Music alumna Cathryn S. Davis recently won Best Composer in the Los Angeles Indie Shorts Film Festival for her composition in the historical film Spirit of Grays Harbor.
Spirit of Grays Harbor traces the vibrant story of Grays Harbor from 1890 through 1930, weaving together historical footage, archival images, and original narration, as well as contributions from community members today explaining “why we love Grays Harbor.”
The Karen Miekle Symphony Fund through the Grays Harbor College Foundation funded the composition and accompanying film Spirit of Grays Harbor in June, 2023. Davis spent the next two years directing, producing, writing, and scoring the film, which premiered with a live orchestra at the Bishop Center for Performing Arts last June. GHC’s Dr. William Dyer directed the orchestra and Polson Museum Director John Larson narrated the film.
In order to prepare Spirit of Grays Harbor for film festivals, Davis had to re-edit the live version video and remove all of the orchestral cues. She added underscoring for all of the dialogue sections featuring John the History Guy and the jingle featuring McKenna Hansen, Rebecca Bronson, and Elizabeth Carrico as John the History Guy Singers. “I used hybrid music – part live recordings and part midi instruments – in the film festival version and spent about eight weeks recording, mixing, and then mastering the music,” Davis explained. “Kyla Etges, the incredible clarinet and sax player from the Grays Harbor Symphony, recorded all five of the saxophone parts for the film.”
“Special thanks to Dr. William Dyer, conductor of the Grays Harbor Symphony, for commissioning this work with me,” said Davis. “It’s taken about two and a half years to finish, which makes this festival win so wonderful!”
Dr. Dyer congratulated Davis on accomplishments with Spirit of Grays Harbor. "We are extraordinarily proud of our former GHC music student, Cathryn Davis. It was an honor to premiere her work, and we look forward to collaborating with her on new projects in the future."
Davis has been busy submitting Spirit of Grays Harbor to many other film festivals in addition to the LA Indie Shorts Film Festival. “New Film Composers really don’t have a venue to sell themselves or agents. The best way of getting your music out there is through film festivals,” she explained. “You have to submit and cross your fingers that yours will be chosen. When it does, it becomes part of the festival and gets shown to other film people in the film industry, like directors and potential people to hire you for their films.”
The LA Indie Shorts Film Festival is an international competition and annual screening event located in Los Angeles, dedicated to short filmmaking, indie cinema, and arthouse filmmakers across various genres from both U.S. and international creators. Davis will find out more about the festival in 2026.
More information about Davis and her work can be found at www.cathryndavis.com. Spirit of Grays Harbor will eventually be available to stream at www.cathryndavis.com/film-scoring-music-videos.