Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 3/15/2023
NORTHAMPTON — A 1919 silent film about an improbable journey of survival and perseverance will be screened at the Academy of Music on March 18 at 7 p.m.
The classic film, the Frank Hurley-directed “South,” will be accompanied by a live orchestral performance of an original soundtrack courtesy of the Psychedelic Cinema Orchestra, a three-piece group consisting of Ken Winokur, Jonathan LaMaster and Russ Gershon.
According to Steven Sanderson, the event producer for Northampton Arts Council, the movie tells the tale of how Ernest Shackleton’s ship, Endurance, got stuck in ice more than a hundred years ago in the Weddell Sea in Antarctica before sinking due to ice expansion.
The crew somehow escaped the ship, and for the next two years, they lived on the ice and ultimately made their way to the nearest land 800 miles away. Somehow, every member of the crew involved on this ship survived and Hurley saved many of the stills and motion picture films he shot of the experience, which culminated into “South.”
According to Sanderson, the film has a runtime of 81 minutes and has received a new 2K restoration from the British Film Institute.
“Shackleton was an explorer, and around that time, Antarctica hadn’t really been explored to a certain extent,” said Sanderson. “They ended up escaping the ship and hiking to a whaling station, and so the fact that they all lived was the amazing part.”
The movie and live performance of the soundtrack is presented in conjunction with the Northampton Arts Council, the Psychedelic Cinema Orchestra and the Academy of Music Theatre.
The film garnered more attention when, last year, National Geographic uncovered the astounding footage of the newly-discovered wreck of Shackleton’s ship, which has been lying underneath the Weddell Sea for more than a hundred years.
“If you look at the photographs and film that they shot of the ship, it’s astounding,” said Winokur, the composer, musician, multimedia producer and founder of the Psychedelic Cinema Orchestra. “The colors are still in the paint and the ship has not disintegrated.”
Winokur, who spearheads the orchestra with Jonathan LaMaster and Russ Gershon, is well-known for his work as the director of the former Alloy Orchestra, which was a prominent group that performed extensive soundtracks for traditional silent films from the 1920s and before.
“We did about 40 scores for full-length feature presentations or large collections of shorts,” said Winokur, who created and performed live accompaniment to silent films like “Metropolis” and “Son of Sheik.”
After disbanding, Winokur began Psychedelic Cinema Orchestra in 2014 to accompany Ken Brown’s super 8 films, compiled under the name, “Psychedelic Cinema.” Since forming, the group has performed throughout the U.S. with Brown’s films at many venues such as the AFI Silver, ICA Boston, Cornell Cinema and many others. They have also toured the Balkans and scored Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Lodger” along with other short films. Aside from their two major performances of Brown’s films and “South”, they also hope to expand their breadth by working with more contemporary filmmakers on soundtracks.
When Winokur learned of the news about the rediscovered ship, he felt like this was the perfect opportunity to create a soundtrack that reflects the movie’s incredible journey.
“I thought this was the obvious opportunity to let people see the 1919 documentary that has such extraordinary footage of the expedition, the ship, the people in the crew, and the animals they encountered,” said Winokur.
One of the more incredible stories to come out of this expedition involves Hurley’s perseverance during the initial distress.
According to Winokur, as the ship sank, Hurley stripped his clothes, jumped in the Antarctica water, and dove under the ship to rescue the film negatives he had shot during the expedition.
“Throughout this incredibly arduous journey, he’s dragging along with these huge quantities of film cams and illustrations he had made,” said Winokur.
After surviving that, the crew used one of their row boats to trudge across 800 miles of some of the most treacherous water that most ships would not dare embark on. Once they arrived at the whaling station, they then had to climb a glacier that, even by modern standards, is virtually impossible to climb.
“It’s against all odds that they were able to make this journey,” added Winokur. “They just kept defying the odds.”
Winokur immediately contacted the members of the orchestra when he first saw the news of this ship last March, and the band immediately started creating the soundtrack. The orchestra conducted their first show with the film last summer and have since done a couple more. After the Northampton show, the orchestra plans to perform the soundtrack with the film the very next day at Winokur’s hometown of Somerville at the Somerville Theater’s crystal ballroom.
Readers can learn more about the “South” film and the Psychedelic Cinema Orchestra by visiting the Northampton Arts Council website: https://www.northamptonartscouncil.org/2022/10/psychedelic-cinema-orchestra-performs.html. Ticket prices are also available through there.