Tag: Harry Smith

JG Thirlwell performs Live Score to Harry Smith in San Francisco

JG Thirlwell

On September 4 2026, JG Thirlwell will perform a live score to the legendary Harry Smith film Heaven and Earth Magic at the Gray Area Grand Theater in San Francisco for the Crossroads 2026 Festival, presented by SF Cinematheque. Heaven and Earth Magic is a 1962 avant-garde stop-motion animation. Its surreal imagery, drawn from cutups of 19th century catalogs, has a mystical and hypnotic quality that has entranced viewers for decades.The program opens with Thirlwell’s 2018 film Sonder.

This will be a solo performance by Thirlwell in immersive four channel sound, performed on keyboards with computer / sample programs and theremin. The score was commissioned by L’Etrange Film Festival in Paris and premiered there in 2024. Tickets are available here. 

Thirlwell Performs Live Score To Harry Smith Film In Woodstock NY

JG Thirlwell

On November 15 2025, JG Thirlwell will perform a live score to the legendary Harry Smith film Heaven and Earth Magic at the Tinker St Cinema in Woodstock. Heaven and Earth Magic is a 1962 avant-garde stop-motion animation. Its surreal imagery, drawn from cutups of 19th century catalogs, has a mystical and hypnotic quality that has entranced viewers for decades.

This will be a solo performance by Thirlwell in immersive four channel sound, performed on keyboards with computer / sample programs and theremin. The score was commissioned by L’Etrange Film Festival in Paris and premiered there in 2024. 

Opening the show will be Nick Malkin whose practice focuses primarily on the interplay between found sound, field recordings and electronic instrumentation.
Visuals by Tommy Grenas (Anubian Lights)

Tickets available here

Thirlwell performs live score to Harry Smith film at Brain Dead Studios in Los Angeles

JG Thirlwell

On October 19 2025, JG Thirlwell will perform a live score to the legendary Harry Smith film Heaven and Earth Magic at Brain Dead Studios in Los Angeles. Heaven and Earth Magic is a 1962 avant-garde stop-motion animation. Its surreal imagery, drawn from cutups of 19th century catalogs, has a mystical and hypnotic quality that has entranced viewers for decades.
 
This will be a solo performance by Thirlwell in immersive four channel sound, performed on keyboards with computer / sample programs and theremin. The score was commissioned by L’Etrange Film Festival in Paris and premiered there in 2024. This is the first performance on the West Coast.
 
The evening will open with a rare screening of Thirlwell’s 11-minute film Sonder, which was commissioned by the Frekvens Film Symposium in Gotland, Sweden in 2018. Sonder was conceived, directed and scored by Thirlwell and filmed by Sebastian Mlynarski.
Tickets available here

Thirlwell performs live score to Harry Smith film at Nitehawk Cinema in Brooklyn

JG Thirlwell

On July 29 2025, JG Thirlwell will perform a live score to the legendary Harry Smith film Heaven and Earth Magic at Nitehawk Cinema by Prospect Park in Brooklyn. “Heaven and Earth Magic” is a 1962 avant-garde stop-motion animation. Its surreal imagery, drawn from cutups of 19th century catalogs, has a mystical and hypnotic quality that has entranced viewers for decades.
 
This will be a solo performance by Thirlwell in immersive four channel sound, performed on keyboards with computer / sample programs and theremin. The score was commissioned by L’Etrange Film Festival in Paris and premiered there in 2024. This is the first performance in North America.
 
The evening will open with a rare screening of Thirlwell’s 11-minute film Sonder, which was commissioned by the Frekvens Film Symposium in Gotland, Sweden in 2018. Sonder was conceived, directed and scored by Thirlwell and filmed by Sebastian Mlynarski.
Tickets available here

JG Thirlwell performs live score of Harry Smith film at L’Etrange Film Fest

JG Thirlwell

We are thrilled to announce that JG Thirlwell will be performing an exclusive  score live to  the Harry Smith film Heaven And Earth Magic at L’Etrange Festival in Paris on September 10, 2024. The newly-created score will be performed by Thirlwell using electronics, triggered samples and theremin and will be in surround sound. The event will occur at the Forum des images, in Forum des Halles, 2 Rue du cinéma, 75001 Paris. The evening will open with sets by French duo Larège, followed by the first concert in Paris by the Franco-Senegalese group Ndox électrique.

In addition, L’Etrange Festival will be presenting  a JG Thirlwell Carte Blanche, which is a mini film-festival consisting of five films selected and presented by Thirlwell. This will run from September 9-11 2024.

Harry Smith was an American polymath, who was credited variously as an artist, experimental filmmaker, bohemian, mystic, record collector, hoarder, student of anthropology and a Neo-Gnostic bishop. The film that Thirlwell is scoring is a black and white mystical stop motion animation, sixty five minutes in length.

Tickets for the events will be made available in late August.