A TV series is being developed about Leonard Cohen's 1973 visit to the frontlines of the October War (also known as the Yom Kippur war or Arab-Israeli war, depending on who you ask).
As reported by Deadline, Who by Fire is coming courtesy of Keshet International and Sixty-Six Media, and it's based on Matti Friedman's book Who by Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai, which tells the story of Cohen's trip to Israel and his concert on the frontlines of the war.
The show's logline reads:
In October 1973 the poet and singer Leonard Cohen — 39 years old, famous, unhappy, and at a creative dead end — travelled to the Sinai desert and inserted himself into the chaos and blood of the Yom Kippur War. Moving around the front with a guitar and a pick-up team of local musicians, Cohen dived headlong into a global crisis and met hundreds of fighting men and women at the worst moment of their lives. Cohen's audience knew his songs might be the last thing they heard, and those who survived never forgot the experience. The war tour was an electric cultural moment, one that still echoes today — but a moment that only few knew about, until now.
Following his trip, Cohen released New Skin for the Old Ceremony in 1974. It included references to the war on songs like "Lover, Lover, Lover" and "Who by Fire," the latter of which was recently covered by PJ Harvey as the title track for Bad Sisters.
The show is scheduled to begin shooting in Israel in 2024.
As reported by Deadline, Who by Fire is coming courtesy of Keshet International and Sixty-Six Media, and it's based on Matti Friedman's book Who by Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai, which tells the story of Cohen's trip to Israel and his concert on the frontlines of the war.
The show's logline reads:
In October 1973 the poet and singer Leonard Cohen — 39 years old, famous, unhappy, and at a creative dead end — travelled to the Sinai desert and inserted himself into the chaos and blood of the Yom Kippur War. Moving around the front with a guitar and a pick-up team of local musicians, Cohen dived headlong into a global crisis and met hundreds of fighting men and women at the worst moment of their lives. Cohen's audience knew his songs might be the last thing they heard, and those who survived never forgot the experience. The war tour was an electric cultural moment, one that still echoes today — but a moment that only few knew about, until now.
Following his trip, Cohen released New Skin for the Old Ceremony in 1974. It included references to the war on songs like "Lover, Lover, Lover" and "Who by Fire," the latter of which was recently covered by PJ Harvey as the title track for Bad Sisters.
The show is scheduled to begin shooting in Israel in 2024.
