Dayna Goldfine: Last News

Alissa Simon Film CriticFor over 25 years, Emmy-award winning directors/producers Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine have jointly created multi-character documentary narratives that use the personal stories of their protagonists to paint a larger portrait of the human experience. They are especially known for meticulous archival research, which made works such as “Ballets Russes” (2005) and “Isadora Duncan: Movement from the Soul” (1988) so extraordinary.

Leonard Cohen’s signature song, “Hallelujah,” had its journey to music immortality stopped almost at birth by a record executive. The chief of Cohen’s label, Columbia, vetoed the finished album containing the track in 1984 because he considered it unmarketable in the United States. 

Not many songs have been covered by so many artists like Leonard Cohen’s song “Hallelujah.” First recorded in 1984 on the underwhelmingly received Various Positions album, “Hallelujah” received little success upon its release but eventually found fame when Jeff Buckley and John Cale covered the song. However, many people know the song from the Dreamworks’ movie, “Shrek,” covered by Rufus Wainwright.

Sony Pictures Classics has taken global rights sans France and Germany, to Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine’s documentary Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song.

Daniel Gellar and Dayna Goldfine’s “Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song” begins at what is, by most definitions, the end: with Cohen’s final concert, in December of 2013. He roams the stage, growling out the title song in his trademark fedora and black suit, with all 79 of his years behind it, and it sounds like both a dirge and a celebration.

Manori Ravindran International EditorA new Venice-bound documentary on singer Leonard Cohen will be shopped internationally by doc specialists Dogwoof.Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine’s latest feature “Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song” is executive produced by Oscar winner Morgan Neville and Jonathan Dana, a long-time collaborator of directors Geller and Goldfine (“The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden”). The film explores the poet and singer-songwriter’s life through the lens of what’s arguably his most famous work, the hymn “Hallelujah,” which has been covered countless times by other artists over the years.“Hallelujah” will world premiere Out of Competition at the Venice Film Festival on Sept.