Born in Lithuania, Adolfas Mekas and his brother Jonas arrived in the United States in 1949. Together they studied with Hans Richter and, in 1954, founded Film Culture, the magazine of independent cinema. In 1970, Jonas Mekas co-founded Anthology Film Archives in New York city.

HALLELUJAH THE HILLS, Adolfas Mekas's debut feature film, was selected for the first New York Film Festival, in 1963, was the hit of the ‘outside-of-competition’ section at the Cannes Film Festival, and won the Silver Sail at Locarno.. Referencing Charlie Chaplin, D.W. Griffith and Maya Deren it is a work that bears witness to his knowledge and love of cinema, as well as the immense freedom to be found in the films of the New American Cinema.

“Next to the two big shots of the New York School, Clarke and Cassavetes, he seemed a poor relative, especially since people got him confused with his brother. HALLELUJAH proved clearly that Adolfas is someone to be reckoned with. He is a master in the field of pure invention, that is to say, in working dangerously – ‘without a net.’ His film, made according to the good old principle – one idea for each shot – has the lovely scent of fresh ingenuity and crafty sweetness. Physical efforts and intellectual gags are boldly put together. The slightest thing moves you and makes you laugh – a badly framed bush, a banana stuck in a pocket, a majorette in the snow. He shows life as defined by Ramuz: ‘As with a dance, such pleasure to begin, a piston, a clarinet, such sorrow to be done, the head spins and night has come.’”

–Jean-Luc Godard, Cahiers du Cinéma

In 1971 Adolfas Mekas joined the newly formed film department of Bard College, which would come to be known as the "Peoples' Film Department" under his chairmanship. He continued to teach at Bard until his retirement in 2004. Adolfas Mekas died in June of 2011, at the age of 85.

This new to DVD publication contains the bonus features: David Avallone's 2006 interview with Mekas, HALLELUJAH THE VILLA; Richard Roud's 1963 interview with Mekas, Joseph Losey and Amos Vogel for Camera Three, in honor of the inaugural New York Film Festival; and a 20-page bi-lingual booklet with a new essay by Frédérique Devaux, about the film and Mekas's improvisatory technique.

"HALLELUJAH THE HILLS is a gloriously funny and far-out farce about two great big overgrown boy scouts who pratfall in love with the same girl.  The weirdest, wooziest, wackiest screen comedy is a slapstick poem, an intellectual hellzapoppin, a gloriously fresh experiment and experience in the cinema of the absurd, the first cubistic comedy of the new world cinema."

—Time Magazine, 1963

"Even avowed enemies of the New American Cinema, so called, were impressed by the film's lack of pretentions and its unexpected lyricism and Zenserenity in the midst of nervous parody."

—Andrew Sarris, The Village Voice, 1963

"A highpoint from the 'innocent' years of American underground cinema, and something of an enduring delight for real film buffs. Mekas' comedy starts from an enthusiastic parody of French 'new wave' concepts like using two actresses to play one character, and manages to go on to incorporate references (part satire, part homage) to what seems like every other branch of cinema extant. It ranges from samurai movies to Chaplinesque slapstick, and it hits the intended tone between love and scepticism far more often than you'd have thought possible. The main thing is that it's recklessly enthusiastic about itself and about cinema in general -- and the enthusiasm is infectious."

—Time Out Film Guide