Thurston Moore moved to New York upon entering adulthood to play punk. Four years later he founded Sonic Youth, a band that changed the way a whole generation thought and performed experimentation in rock. As a solo artist, he is, still today, one of the names that more path breaks in the creation of new languages ​​in collision with the mainstream standards. From improvisation to purest rock, from acoustic composition to noise there seems to be no spaces where Moore does not feel comfortable. The same can be said of the numerous collaborations he made with other artists such as Yoko Ono, David Toop, Cecil Taylor, Faust or Irmin Schmidt (CAN), who still gave him time to do poetry or give writing lessons. In music, he continues to go onstage with The Thurston Moore Group, however he will perform solo in July in Vila do Conde. On this comeback, Thurston Moore has the challenge of composing for a selection of short films by Maya Deren, one of the most iconic American avant-garde filmmakers and one of the first women to build a career as a film director. Witch Cradle, At Land, Ritual in Transfigured Time and Meshes of the Afternoon are the films that will make up this movie-concert.

London psychedelic jazz collective The Heliocentrics have their roots in the ‘90s when drummer Malcolm Catto recorded for Mo’Wax and Jazzman They recorded their breakthrough album for Stones Throw, ‘Out There’ in 2007, and have since then solidified their place among the most interesting names of music of the last decades. Balancing the exotic and the "strange", the universe of The Heliocentrics is vast and evolutionary. Their discography is a document of a journey between the different incarnations of jazz and funk and their incredible list of collaborations is a kind of introduction to the names that marked the post-Mo'Wax movement from MF Doom to Ethio jazz pioneer Mulatu Astatke, from jazzman Lloyd Miller to Afro soul Godfather, Orlando Julius. In July, the collective will  films. A cutting-edge filmmaker, Smith has collected thousands of Victorian magazine prints for decades to create some of the most creative animations American cinema knows. Upholsteries recall the collages of Max Ernst, where spaces in transformation, made up of antiques, artifacts and creatures serve as background for the stories of delirious heroes and heroines.

Three of the most important names of contemporary Portuguese music, alone or in the various projects that inhabit the cultural production of the country, the sonorous universes of Marco Franco, Norberto Lobo and Bruno Pernadas are far from being simple and predictable. Holders of a language in a constant state evolution, conquered with their records some of the most disputed tops of the critics and the wide respect of public and theirs peers. In January they edited Ilha de Plástico under the name Montanhas Azuis, a space for experimentation towards analog instruments, from guitars to synthesizers. Live (in the rare presentations they make) they show us environmental songs, interludes with healing powers, cosmic journeys, folk with jazz frills, and low-resolution electronic landscapes, among other surprising ideas that may arise in the meantime. Or ideas with images, for there is also Pedro Maia involved in all of this, the cinematic guide to this adventurous trip. This event has the support of SPA - Sociedade Portuguesa de Autores.

STEREO opening session will show Das Cabinett Des Dr. Caligari, by Robert Wiene, one of the greatest references of the German expressionist movement in cinema. Cellist Marta Navarro and composer and sound artist Tiago Cutileiro will be responsible for the creation of an original music and interpretation for the film. Commissioned by Curtas this project intends to construct a sonorous environment for the silent story of a hypnotist who commits homicides during crises of somnambulism. This film, which was shot in the autumn of 1919 and almost 100 years ago, gives the motto to the exhibition The Case Caligari, which opens on the first day of the festival, at Solar - Cinematic Art Gallery.

Tickets for these performances cost between 7 and 16 euros and may be purchased at Teatro Municipal de Vila do Conde and at the online box office (BOL).

The 27th Curtas Vila do Conde, which be held from July 6th to 14th, has the support of the MEDIA / Creative Europe program, the Vila do Conde City Hall, the Ministry of Culture, ICA - Cinema and Audiovisual Institute and several others indispensable partners of the festival.

STEREO PROGRAM

Tiago Cutileiro + Marta Navarro - Das Cabinett Des Dr. Caligari 
Date: Saturday 6 July 17h30
Place: Teatro Municipal de Vila do Conde
Price: €7 (pre-sale until 5th July) / €8 (from 6th July) 
Tickets: here

Thurston Moore with films by Maya Deren
Date: Wednesday, 10 July, 21h00
Place: Teatro Municipal de Vila do Conde
Price: €14 (pre-sale until 5th July) / €16 (from 6th July) 
Tickets: here
 

The Heliocentrics – Heaven and Earth Magic
Date , 12 July 23h45
Place: Teatro Municipal de Vila do Conde
Preço: €8 (pre-sale until 5th July) /  / €10 (from 6th July) 
Tickets: here

Montanhas Azuis + Pedro Maia
With the support SPA - Sociedade Portugesa de Autores
Date: Saturday, 13 July, 23h45
Local: Teatro Municipal de Vila do Conde
Preço: €7 (pre-sale until 5th July) / €8  (from 6th July)
Tickets: here