Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song

PAGLEJ! a series of movies about music

Thursday, December 7, at 19:00
Filmsko gledališče Idrija
admission free

Photo: Geller/Goldfine Productions

Directors: Dan Geller in Dayna Goldfine. Performers: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, John Cale, Sharon Robinson, Brandi Carlile, Judy Collins, Bob Dylan, Rufus Wainwright. Production: Geller/Goldfine Productions, USA, 2021. Duration: 116 min.

“I can’t think of another song with a trajectory of anything like what happened with Hallelujah. When you think of universal global anthems like Imagine or Bridge Over Troubled Water, they were immediate hits. But Hallelujah was first rejected by the record company, and then completely ignored when it came out.” These are the words of Alan Light, author of The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley & the Unlikely Ascent of Hallelujah, which served as the basis of the present documentary about the legendary Canadian musician and poet Leonard Cohen (1934-2016). Through the prism of perhaps Cohen’s most famous song, the film chronicles both Cohen’s creative journey and the unusual fate of the song Hallelujah. From the label’s rejection through the first remakes of famous musicians such as John Cale and Jeff Buckley, to the fact that the song is now a mandatory choice in various singing competitions and is present in many series and movies, such as the mega-successful Shrek. The film, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, was personally approved by Cohen who gave the film crew access to never-before-seen archival materials including Cohen’s personal notebooks, journals and photographs, performance footage and extremely rare audio recordings and interviews.

The movie series is prepared in co-production with Idrija City Library.