LEONARD COHEN - BIRD ON A WIRE

In 1972, British filmmaker Tony Palmer—who had recently co-directed Frank Zappa’s cinematic freak-out 200 Motels—was commissioned to follow Leonard Cohen on his tour of Europe, capturing him in performance, in the studio and “offduty.” Palmer’s version of the film was heavily re-edited by Cohen himself, and following the brief run of this much-altered cut in 1974, the film was unavailable for decades. Restored by Palmer in 2010 to its nearly original form, Bird on a Wire reveals itself as a fascinating, multifaceted portrait of one of the key figures of modern music. Tony Palmer joins us onstage to introduce this special screening of Bird on a Wire and discuss the experience of making (and remaking) this long-lost classic.