Psychedelic Cinema Orchestra presents SOUTH! Shackleton and the Endurance Expedition

Doors 8pm, Performances start  shortly after 8:35pm, once it is dark enough for projection. Please plan to arrive within that window of time to enjoy a refreshment, experience the art exhibition, and choose your seat to best avoid disrupting the performance. Thanks!

Psychedelic Cinema Orchestra is a new band composed of “survivors of the silent film wars” featuring Ken Winokur (Alloy Orchestra), Jonathan La Master (Cul de Sac) and Russ Gershon (Either/Orchestra). They return to Epsilon Spires to meld their signature repurposed junk percussion, bass clarinet, baritone sax, electric violin and guitars into an energetic live musical score for the astonishing record of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s 1914-16 Endurance expedition to Antarctica, a landmark documentary has been recently remastered by the BFI National Archive.

About the film:

When Sir Ernest Shackleton set sail on The Endurance on August 8, 1914, he was already an internationally renowned Antarctic explorer and national hero. He planned a brave attempt to cross the continent of Antarctica via the Pole. Raising money for the Imperial Trans-Antarctic (ITA) expedition was a huge struggle. With an eye toward profiting from their adventures, Shackleton hired experienced cameraman Frank Hurley, whose films and photographs would hopefully pay for part of the expedition. But within a day’s travel (80 miles) of land, the Endurance was trapped in unusually heavy pack ice. Completely stuck, Shackleton and his crew drifted helplessly northward during the long Antarctic winter night while listening to the shrieks and moans of the Endurance slowly being crushed by the mounting pressure.

What followed is one of the greatest adventure stories ever and an unbelievable tale of courage and survival.

The crew drifted on ice floes for months before landing on the completely deserted Elephant Island. Though his crew was safe for now, there was no chance for rescue. So Ernest Shackleton and five of his men made a 850-mile journey in an open boat with only a sextent to guide them across the roughest seas in the world to miraculously reach Georgia Island. Even then, they had to become the first people ever to climb over the island's forbidding mountain to reach civilization on the other side.One of the greatest epics in the history of exploration, this is the original 1919 film produced by Shackleton and Frank Hurley.

Critical Acclaim:

"The overwhelming impression left by South is of the bravery of everyone who ventured to the pole. These men did not have cargo planes to drop supplies, satellites to tell them their position, solar panels for heating and electricity or even adequate clothing. But they had pluck, and Frank Hurley with his hand-cranked camera recorded them, still to be seen, specks of life and hope in an icy wilderness. Watching these images, we are absorbed, as we often are with silent film, in a reverie that is a collaboration with the images."- Roger Ebert

"Fascinating viewing. An undeniably fitting testimony, offering a rare and personal insight into the struggle that these men faced."- Eye For Film

"The most sensational part of the entire film comes at the very beginning with Hurley’s glorious close-up portraits of his leading players, most prominently Shackleton. The sheer vividness of these personalities scorches out of the screen."

- The Guardian

About the Musicians:

Percussionist and clarinetist, Ken Winokur leads the group.  His unique percussion style, incorporating unconventional rhythms and junk percussion leads the group into unexpected new territory with each twist and turn of this amazing film. Winokur previously directed and performed with Alloy Orchestra, and played in Boston’s 4 drummer extravaganza, Concussion Ensemble.

Jonathan LaMaster is a multi-instrumentalist (violin, guitar and bass guitar), vocalist and songwriter who also has extensive experience as a concert promoter, publicist and founder of the Sublingual Records recording label. He was a member of the internationally known rock bands Cul de Sac and Damo Suzuki's Network (with Damo Suzuki, x-vocalist of the legendary German rock band "Can") with whom he regularly toured Europe, the UK, Japan, Russia, Canada and the USA from 1997 to 2009. He currently plays with The Psychedelic Cinema Orchestra, Smitt E. Smitty and the Feztones, and Brian Carpenter and the Confessions.

Multi-instrumentalist and composer Russ Gershon is the founder of Boston's Either/Orchestra, frequent collaborator with Ethiopian legends Mahmoud Ahmed and Mulatu Astatke, and member of Hypnosonics and Orchestra Morphine, both associated with the late Mark Sandman. He has also performed or recorded with headliners from Cab Calloway, the Four Tops and Medeski Martin & Wood to Throwing Muses and Willie Loco Alexander. Gershon was nominated for a Grammy for his composition “Bennie Moten’s Weird Nightmare.”