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03
Sunrise
Artefact, Liverpool, 5 March
2026
Jose Dias + Pablo Sonnaillon + Johnny Hunter
F. W. Murnau’s Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) has become a recurring presence in José Dias’s work with silent cinema. Through repeated live improvisations, the film provides a space in which different elements of his musical language converge, from lyrical passages and atmospheric textures to abstraction, experimentation and spontaneous musical dialogue. Each performance offers a new reading of the film, shaped by the moment and the musicians involved.
50/25 april
2025
HOME, Manchester Jazz Festival on 17 May
Jose Dias + Maria Fonseca
+ Juliana Mendonça + Johnny Hunter
Marking fifty years since Portugal's 1974 Revolution, *Music, Memory, and the Archive* explores how historical archival materials can be reinterpreted through live musical improvisation. Bringing together musicians with different experiences and perspectives, the project investigates how sound, images and collective performance can open new conversations about democracy, political memory and the ways we understand the past.
Pulga Atrás da Orelha
Vanessa Namora Caeiro RTP
2022-2024
Jose Dias - theme tune for animated series
*Pulga Atrás da Orelha* is a Portuguese animated television series produced by Sardinha em Lata for RTP and directed by Vanessa Namora Caeiro. Across 50 short episodes, the series tackles children's questions about the world, from science and history to everyday life. José Dias composed its theme music, contributing to the playful character of this educational series.
OFF SCREEN
2023
LTB Showrooms, Coventry, 13 June
José Dias — guitar and effects
Felicity Evans-Waite — baritone saxophone
Andrew Woodhead — keyboards and electronics
Leon Trimble — VJ
Navkiran Mann — poetry and spoken word
*Off Screen* brought together archival film, live improvisation and community participation to explore Coventry's collective memory. José Dias, Felicity Evans-Waite, Andrew Woodhead, Leon Trimble and Navkiran Mann created an audiovisual performance responding to previously silent television news footage, questioning how communities have been represented in the media and whose stories have remained outside the frame.
metropolis
Live at The Whiskey Jar, Manchester, June
2021
Jose Dias + Paul Baxter + Johnny Hunter
Fritz Lang’s *Metropolis* (1927) was presented in 2021 with a live improvised soundtrack as part of a film and music series curated by José Dias, in partnership with NQJazz and supported by Arts Council England. Bringing contemporary improvisation into dialogue with one of cinema’s most influential works, the performance offered a new musical reading of the film’s exploration of technology, class and modernity.
inward bound
Live at Manchester Jazz Festival, Bury, 24 May
2020
Jose Dias + Adam Fairhall
+ Paul Baxter + Johnny Hunter
Commissioned by Manchester Jazz Festival in partnership with the North West Film Archive, this 2020 performance brought live improvisation into dialogue with silent documentary footage of Manchester’s mills and canals from the 1920s and 1930s. Created during the COVID-19 pandemic, the project explored the city's resilience, drawing connections between its industrial heritage, collective memory and the challenges of the present. The performance was streamed from Bury Met as part of the festival's online edition.
a ilha das cores
Jose Dias - music for animated series (Ilha das Cores)
"O Ilusionista", Lorenzo Degl'Innocenti RTP (2009-2011)
2009-2011
Commissioned to compose music for 25 short films in the animated series *Ilha das Cores*, José Dias collaborated with numerous directors, each bringing their own visual language and artistic sensibility. The project offered an opportunity to explore different approaches to composition for moving images, responding to a wide range of narratives, aesthetics and creative demands. *O Ilusionista* is one example of this work.
Mi Vida En Tus Manos
Nuno Beato (2009)
2009
Short animated film · Screenplay and musical direction: José Dias
Directed by Nuno Beato, *Mi Vida en Tus Manos* (2009) is an award-winning animated short film exploring the relationship between a bullfighter, his young son and the bull they are about to confront. Created using painting-on-glass animation, the film combines a distinctive visual language with a story about empathy, expectation and the possibility of changing one's fate. José Dias wrote the screenplay and was responsible for musical direction. The film received eight awards and was selected for over 100 international film festivals.
8 awards · 114 international festival selections
Documentary film | Co-directed by José Dias and Pedro Santana
2009
Co-directed by José Dias and Pedro Santana, *Those Who Make It Happen* (2017) is a short documentary exploring the people and practices behind jazz culture. Bringing together filmmaking and music research, the documentary reflects Dias’s interest in the communities, relationships and cultural networks that sustain musical activity beyond the stage.