Bill Cunningham: New York
Bill Cunningham Image by Zeitgeist Films
The most memorable film screening I attended this year was a memorial screening of “Bill Cunningham: New York” back on July 21. The eponymous star of the film, a shy New York Times photographer who documented New York’s and Paris’s fashion scenes on a bike, died at 87 on June 25 of this year, after being hospitalized for a stroke. Cunningham never married and was childless. Nevertheless, the one screening, which was open to the public was packed with friends, and fans. Also in attendance was director/cinematographer Richard Press and producer Philip Gefter. It was in every way a therapeutic wake, and I could hear people sobbing in their seats even as they laughed at Cunningham’s delicious wit.
The 7 pm screening was held at the IFC Center; it was the longest running film ever screened at the IFC Center. I had seen the film there in 2011 after it premiered at the Museum of Modern Art in 2010, and I did a double take to see “Bill Cunningham New York” again on the IFC marquee.
“Bill Cunningham New York” is the perfect character documentary because it celebrates a mostly unknown yet true hero, and is a love letter to New York as well.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
