Bill Cunningham New York

Winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Sydney, Melbourne, and Canberra film festivals, and the opening night film for the New Directors/New Films 2010, Bill Cunningham New York follows Schwinn-riding, blue workman’s jacket-wearing, octogenarian fashion photographer Bill Cunningham on his constant search for beauty, exceptionality, and new trends on one of the biggest catwalks of them all: the streets of New York City. His two weekly New York Times Style section columns, “On the Street” and “Evening Hours” reliably document the famous, the infamous, and the anonymous, all with the same flair and respect.

To capture street style for the New York Times, octogenarian Bill Cunningham cruises city streets on a bicycle. He prefers shooting in the rain and snow, when he can catch people off-guard. “He who seeks beauty will find it,” he said. Although he documents glamour, Cunningham wears the blue work shirt of French street sweepers and, at the time of the documentary’s shooting, slept in a cramped space between file cabinets filled with every negative he has ever taken. Yes, he still shoots on film. Filmmaker Richard Press offers a humorous, touching and insightful portrait about a subject who clearly would have preferred to stay behind the camera. (U.S., 84 min.) Sara Glassman 3 1/2 out of 4 stars