A critically acclaimed film accompanied by live music will be shown at a venue in Portland this March, which will feature work from a Dorset based artist.

Sound artist and composer Jason Singh will give a live performance of his soundtrack to John Grierson’s silent documentary film Drifters.

The film, originally premiering in 1929, follows the North Sea herring trawlermen through their dramatic daily routines as well as the industry’s struggles between tradition, modernity, and nature.  

Mr Singh was originally commissioned by British Film Institute (BFI) to create a new soundtrack to Drifters in 2012 for a Blueray version of the film issued with Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin.

The score combines live vocal sound effects, beatboxing techniques, and live sampling.

Dorset Echo: Drifters Poster 1929

Film critic, Mark Kermode, said: “The soundtrack was every bit as big as the image you were seeing and it’s very, very hard to do that – to get the sound as powerful as the film.

“It felt like it was drawing everything out of the images. I thought it was thrilling, genuinely properly thrilling. I loved it.” 

Sarah Acton and composer Emily Burridge will open the evening with the premiere of newly commissioned spoken word, live music, and film piece Seiners.

The work presents a series of sketches linking fishing communities to the wild coastal seasons and cycles of mackerel, salmon and pilchards once fished in Dorset, Devon, and Cornwall.

Both creatives have connections to Dorset with Sarah having recently published a book, Seining Along Chesil, capturing stories of Dorset Seine fishing traditions.  Emily is a virtuoso cellist and Dorset local with thirty years in the music business.

It will be performed at Portland Royal Manor Theatre on March 15 at 7:30pm.

Tickets can be booked on the Sound UK website: www.sounduk.net