Chatting it up with the Director of ‘Bill Cunningham New York’

Considering I did this at the beginning of the month, this is old news — but I am going to share it with you any way.

I did my first blog post for SFGate.com’s (the San Francisco Chronicle’s website) fashion blog, SF Unzipped and was my interview with Richard Press, the director of Bill Cunningham New York — check it out:

Even if you don’t know Bill Cunningham’s name, chances are good that you’ve seen his work. His candid “On the Street” fashion photo essays and coverage of the social scene in New York are one of the best loved features of the New York Times’ Style section, and his narrated slideshows on the Times’ Web site also have won a loyal following among the fashion set.

In the new documentary “Bill Cunningham New York,” director Richard Press turns his cameras on the famed photojournalist to create an intimate portrait of the man himself.

“I wanted to approach the movie as more of a narrative film with a very strong protagonist surrounded by this great menagerie of characters,” says Press, a New York native who studied graphic design at UC Berkeley. “(It’s) almost like a Robert Altman-esque film that seemed loosely structured but then all the threads come together to create this portrait.”

For nearly 50 years, Cunningham has captured fashionable people on the streets of New York for his column. His subjects range from unknown faces with style to high wattage fashion figures like Anna Piaggi and Patrick McDonald.

Press whittled down more than 60 hours of footage to 84 minutes of Mr. Cunningham hard at work in Paris and New York. The movie includes interviews with Iris Apfel, Vogue editor Anna Wintour (who says “We all get dressed for Bill,”), Tom Wolfe and a brief cameo from Academy of Art University School of Fashion Executive Director Gladys Perint Palmer.

The movie is currently making its film festival rounds, including the San Francisco International Film Festival — where it has its last screening this evening. Unzipped correspondent Dino-Ray Ramos talked with Press about the genuine wonder that is Bill Cunningham.

Read the rest by visiting SFGate.com