Thurston Moore & Sampa The Great Announce Shows As Part Of Melb International Film Fest

While the full line-up is yet to drop, some very special Melbourne International Film Festival events have today been announced with news that Thurston Moore and Sampa The Great will both be performing this year's event.

Best-known for his time with Sonic Youth, Moore will be performing a special one-off event at the festival where he will be performing the score he composed to accompany the film work of Maya Deren.

“Maya Deren is an avant-garde godmother,” he shares. “Her mysterious images have burned into my consciousness like fiery, exotic dreams we are not supposed to talk about; each one a secret location of a symbolic prediction made with deep, dark magic in her Sibyl cave.”

In addition to the musical performance, Moore will also sit down with Jacinta Parsons for an in conversation event to discuss his life and work.

“We’re delighted to welcome Thurston Moore to MIFF,” says MIFF Artistic Director Al Cossar. “He’s someone who has rattled our senses and redefined the possibilities of music over the last 40 years. To combine his own cinematic sensibilities with the work of such an icon of cinema as Maya Deren will be a rare, transporting, transfixing opportunity for MIFF and Melbourne audiences, and one not to be missed.”

The incredible Sampa The Great will be heading up this year's Hear My Eyes event, which has previously sold out its 2017 and 2018 runs.

In this one-off event, Sampa will create a live and original soundtrack performed alongside Céline Sciamma's Girlhood film, an "electrifying portrait of young women of colour growing up in the Paris projects".

This year's Melbourne International Film Festival takes place from 1-18 August, with the full line-up to be released on Tuesday 9 July. Tickets for both Moore's and Sampa The Great's shows are on sale now, head to the MIFF website for all the info.