Bio

David Arcus David Arcus is an award-winning composer for film and television. He has scored films that have premiered at TIFF, Fantasia Film Fest, Hot Docs, and the Zurich International Film Festival. His latest score is for the feature documentary Black Zombie, which will have its premiere at SXSW in 2026.

David has become an in-demand composer for drama, horror, animation, and documentary. While his love for sonic experimentation has made him a natural fit for the horror genre, he is equally at home scoring quiet character moments. His solo piano score for Great, Great, Great (winner, Best Feature, Canadian Film Festival) earned praise for its minimalism and intimacy. With a background spanning from orchestral to synth music, he enjoys discovering the sound of the film in collaboration with the director. For Black Zombie (2026) he combined synths, strings and piano with vocals and songs by Haitian/French artist Mélissa Laveaux. His award-winning collaboration with Michelle Osis and Terry Benn for the horror film Dark Match (2024) combined distorted guitars with circuit-bent synths and custom-made instruments.

David’s interest in film scoring began at an early age, when he fell in love with the music of Danny Elfman, John Williams, and Ennio Morricone. A talented multi-instrumentalist, his passion for film music led him to the University of Toronto where he earned a degree in composition and was the recipient of the Glenn Gould Composition Scholarship.

In 2015, David graduated from the Canadian Film Centre’s Slaight Music Residency, chaired by Academy Award-winning composer Mychael Danna, where his mentors included Mark Korven (The Witch) and Lesley Barber (Manchester by the Sea). In 2016 he studied under the legendary Mark Snow (X-Files) and Sean Callery (24, Jessica Jones) at the NYU Scoring Workshop. David has also composed music for ad campaigns by some of the world’s biggest brands including Coca-Cola, IKEA, and Cadbury.

In addition to his scoring work, David has produced several albums, including the Juno-nominated Flores, Tambores E Amores by Brazilian-Canadian artist Aline Morales.