When New York Times photographer Bill Cunningham would train his camera on you—whether at a posh opening or on the street—it made your day. Anna Wintour –Cunningham photographed the Vogue editor since she was a teen—famously used to say, “One dresses for Bill.” His discerning eye assessed celebrities and civilians alike, snapping those with elan, style, joie de vivre. His attention would say, You had “IT.” This beloved New York icon, who died in 2016 at age 88, is revived in a new documentary, The Times of Bill Cunningham, Mark Bozek’s loving tribute. Featuring an interview with Cunningham at its center, this entertaining documentary premiered at Alice Tully Hall this week, one of several stellar non-fiction selections at this year’s New York Film Festival.

As filmmaker Mark Bozek tells it in a post-screening Q&A, in 1994, Bill Cunningham invited Bozek over to his archive-lined cubicle at Carnegie Hall that served as his living quarters asking the former fashion publicist– to interview him for ten-minutes for his CFDA Awards. Cunningham talked and talked for four hours. Bozek knew he had pure gold, but he did not have the images. In acquiring the archive, he scanned 27,000 images. Hundreds of them flash by to music composed by Maurice Lynch, accompanying Cunningham speaking about his Catholic boyhood and remarkable career in the army, in Paris, his work as a hat designer using the name William J, and on the street or roaming the most exclusive events in search of beauty. His is the only talking head, and plenty of archival footage appears, such as a bit shot by Andy Warhol of Cunningham’s neighbor Editta Sherman's private performance in tutu and feathers of “The Dying Swan.”

Among those attending the special night were Mary McFadden, Iman, Isabel and Ruben Toledo, and many others sporting wild hats and leopard prints, as if Bill Cunningham’s spirit were present in more than just this excellent film.

Regina Weinreich

Graphic Design: Salpeter Ventura