Bird On A Wire

Bird On A Wire is Tony Palmer’s film about Leonard Cohen’s 1972 European Tour (from Dublin to Jerusalem). Having gone missing soon after completion, the film is only now receiving its first official release almost 40 years later. This version has been re-constructed by Palmer from the original soundtracks and around 3000 fragments of film cut 294 from cans of rushes discovered in Hollywood in 2009. The film interweaves live concert footage with backstage encounters. It follows a mostly bewildered band and management as they deal with exploding speakers, backstage groupies and the vagaries of an artist with an extremely delicate temperament. Tony Palmer has commented on Cohen’s power over an audience simply by his presence; “authority doesn’t really describe it; transparent goodness is probably closer, and a profound belief that it is the poet’s responsibility to address the political problems of the world.”

The film will be introduced by Tony Palmer