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 Publisher & CEO 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.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
