The San Francisco Film Society’s acclaimed SF360 Film+Club, a bimonthly social screening series, returns with a rare appearance by Steven Severin, performing his recent solo work Music for Silents live with video projection. The centerpiece of the new work is a soundtrack to the French avant-garde masterpiece The Seashell and the Clergyman (1928), directed by Germaine Dulac and written by Antonin Artaud. This surrealist classic was met by antipathy on its original release by the British Board of Film Censors, which wrote that it is “apparently meaningless . . . But, if there is a meaning, it is doubtless objectionable.” Severin is known for weaving intense and dark musical tapestries, which lend themselves to Dulac’s film and the handful of other rare silent shorts that will be presented.

A key member of the Bromley Contingent, which captivated the culture and fashion scenes in 1970s England, Severin formed Siouxsie and the Banshees with Siouxsie Sioux in 1976. The Times called the band “one of the most audacious and uncompromising musical adventurers of the post-punk era.” During their reign, Siouxsie and the Banshees established themselves as one of the foremost alternative art groups in London. Since the breakup of the band in 1995, Severin has applied himself to numerous solo projects including the composition and performance of several film scores including the supernatural thriller London Voodoo and a six-part Channel 4/PBS documentary titled The Ascent of Money. Music for Silents was released on October 1, 2009.

“This is a rare chance to witness a cultural phenomenon,” said Film Society programmer Sean Uyehara. “Steven Severin has continuously reinvented himself since his days with the Banshees. And still, his creative force shines through unique and undiluted.”

Tickets $12 year-round SFFS members, $15 general. Must be 21+ to attend.