The BAMPFA dedicates a series of films to one of the most influential and prolific music score composers, Ennio Morricone (1928–2020). As a boy, Morricone considered becoming a doctor or competitive chess player, but he was encouraged by his father, a trumpet player, to study music.

After graduating from the Conservatory of Music Santa Cecilia, Morricone, while writing his own compositions, worked as a trumpet player and arranger of popular music. In 1961 he began scoring movies. Morricone was constantly engaged in research and experimentation—from 1964 to 1980, he performed and recorded with the avant-garde improvisation ensemble Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza—and the depth and scope of his musical erudition, from classical to jazz, popular to experimental, orchestral to folk, are evident in the hundreds of films he scored.