Big Film Fest presents on October 21st, at 7:15 pm, in the Norgan Theatre: Marianne & Leonard – Words of Love.
Renowned filmmaker Nick Broomfield’s most personal and romantic film of his storied career. The documentary starts on the Greek island of Hydra in 1960, where Leonard Cohen, then a struggling and unknown fiction writer, and Norwegian Marianne Ihlen, a single mother with a young son, became part of community of expat artists, writers and musicians. Never-before-seen footage shot by Broomfield and legendary documentarian D.A. Pennebaker make for a unique portrait of an idyllic 1960’s bohemia.
It was a time that left a lasting imprint on both Marianne and Leonard, whose friendship would last another fifty years. Leonard found himself in Hydra in the pre-mass-tourist age. He had become mildly famous or notorious for his experimental novel Beautiful Losers, which he wrote on the island. The poet and future music star fell in love with the beautiful and sensitive Marianne and thought of her as his muse who inspired such classic songs as So Long, Marianne and Bird on a Wire.
Leonard found himself in Hydra in the pre-mass-tourist age. He had become mildly famous or notorious for his experimental novel Beautiful Losers, which he wrote on the island. The poet and future music star fell in love with the beautiful and sensitive Marianne and thought of her as his muse who inspired such classic songs as So Long, Marianne and Bird on a Wire.