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Embodying every cliché of the working class New York City loudmouth is long-time local legend Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels, an organization of do-gooders who formed in 1977 in a McDonalds on Fordham Road in the Bronx. His new documentary Vigilante: The Incredible True Story of Curits Sliwa and the Guardian Angels, directed by David Wexler, is an entertaining yet one-sided look at the organization told mostly through an extended interview with Sliwa and archival footage of New York in the Ed Koch, David Dinkins, and Rudy Giuliani eras. The lattermost mayor would finally give credit to the Guardian Angels while Koch and the NYPD fought against the collective, which initially was founded as a neighborhood watch. Only later as crack rock hit the poorest neighborhoods of color would the Angels become more proactive, robbing crack dealers, throwing the product in the sewer, and giving the cash proceeds to soup kitchens.

Midway through the initial run of Netflix's new '70s hip-hop drama The Get Down, one of the show's young heroes makes a new friend who wants to hear his group's emerging sound. "Not yet," he's told. "We're still decoding it." For a bunch of black and Puerto Rican teenagers in the Bronx in the summer of '77 with precious little money or experience, taking a while to decode the next big thing is totally reasonable. For a $120 million behemoth of a television show, with all of Netflix's seemingly infinite resources thrown at bringing co-creator Baz Luhrmann's vision to life, the fact that The Get Down isn't even close to decoded through the end of its first six-episode batch (debuting a week from today; the other half of the first season will drop early next year) is more troubling. The Get Down is a mess. At times, it's a thrilling mess,...

Forbes published its 29th annual list of the world’s richest people on Monday, and Bill Gates once again led the way — securing the top spot that the Microsoft founder has held for 16 of the past 21 years. Gates is worth $79.2 billion, Forbes found. Carlos Slim Helu of Mexico was runner-up; Warren Buffett rounded out the top three, swapping spots with Spain’s Amancio Ortega, who finished fourth. Oracle’s Larry Ellison was No. 5. The Koch brothers claimed the next two spots. Media tycoons making the cut include: Michael Bloomberg (14); Jeff Bezos (15); Anne Cox Chambers (53); Rupert Murdoch (77); Samuel Newhouse (142); Jim Kennedy (156). Also Read: Time.

Bess Myerson, who became the first and, to date, only Jewish Miss America in 1945 before becoming a television personality and entering politics, died Dec. 14 in Santa Monica, the New York Times reported Monday. Myerson was 90.

Born in 1924 in The Bronx, Myerson was crowned Miss America in 1945, the same year she graduated from Hunter College with a degree in music. Myerson used the scholarship money from her Miss America win to finance graduate studies at the Juilliard School and Columbia University.

See photos: Hollywood’s Notable Deaths of 2014

After her tenure as Miss America, Myerson embarked on a career in television,...

The 27th season of the acclaimed Pov series begins on Monday, June 23, 2014 at 10 p.m. on PBS and continues weekly through Sept. 22. The season, featuring 13 new independent nonfiction films and an encore broadcast, concludes with a special presentation in fall 2014.

In "When I Walk", a young up-and-coming filmmaker discovers he has multiple sclerosis. To cope, he decides to use the art of filmmaking to look at his new reality. In the Oscar-nominated "The Act of Killing," a group of unrepentant Indonesian mass murderers re-enact their crimes in a surreal performance that mimics the Hollywood movies they grew up with, and shocks a nation. In  "The Genius of Marian," a mother's watercolors help a daughter suffering with Alzheimer's grasp family memories.

The art of politics is also on display in Koch, a history of the life and times of New York City's former mayor Ed Koch that is as rollicking and unconventional as the man himself, in "American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs," about a fiery activist who urges today's movers and shakers to think in entirely new ways, and in "Getting Back to Abnormal," in which a New Orleans politician prone to putting her foot in her mouth gets an education in street smarts and the city's divergent cultures.

Pov recently announced a collaboration with The New York Times to premiere new documentaries on the organization's websites. The first film, "The Men of Atalissa" by Dan Barry and Kassie Bracken, produced by The New York Times, can be seen on www.pbs.org/pov and www.nytimes.com . In addition, Pov will renew its media partnership with New York flagship public radio station Wnyc.

"Documentaries no longer exist on the cultural margins; they have become an essential tool in how we explore and experience the world," said Pov Executive Producer Simon Kilmurry. "The work produced by these filmmakers is remarkable and important, engaging, daring and entertaining. And it's exciting to see how audiences celebrate and embrace these stories."

"Pov programs take you on a journey, whether traveling alongside a politician, a person grappling with a debilitating illness or an individual in love for the first time," said Pov Co-Executive Producer Cynthia Lopez. "As always, Pov films deliver a emotional punch with superbly crafted storytelling. This season promises to be a powerful roller coaster ride."

Pov 2014 Schedule

June 23: "When I Walk" by Jason DaSilva

Jason DaSilva was 25 years old and a rising independent filmmaker when a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis changed everything, and inspired him to make another film. When I Walk is a candid and brave chronicle of one young man's struggle to adapt to the harsh realities of M.S. while holding on to his personal and creative life. With his body growing weaker, DaSilva's spirits, and his film, get a boost from his mother's tough love and the support of Alice Cook, who becomes his wife and filmmaking partner. The result is a life-affirming documentary filled with unexpected moments of joy and humor. Official Selection of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. A co-production of Itvs. A co-presentation with the Center for Asian American Media (Caam).

June 30: "American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs" by Grace Lee

Grace Lee Boggs, 98, is a Chinese American philosopher, writer, and activist in Detroit with a thick FBI file and a surprising vision of what an American revolution can be. Rooted for 75 years in the labor, civil rights and Black Power movements, she challenges a new generation to throw off old assumptions, think creatively and redefine revolution for our times. Winner, Audience Award, 2013 Los Angeles Film Festival. Festival. A co-presentation with Caam.

July 7: My Way to Olympia by Niko von Glasow

Who better to cover the Paralympics, the international sporting event for athletes with physical and intellectual disabilities, than Niko von Glasow, the world's best-known disabled filmmaker? Unfortunately, or fortunately for anyone seeking an insightful and funny documentary, this filmmaker frankly hates sports and thinks the games are "a stupid idea." Born with severely shortened arms, von Glasow serves as an endearing guide to London's Paralympics competition in "My Way to Olympia." As he meets a one-handed Norwegian table tennis player, the Rwandan sitting volleyball team, an American archer without arms and a Greek paraplegic boccia player, his own stereotypes about disability and sports get delightfully punctured. Official Selection of the 2013 Berlin International Film Festival.

July 14: Getting Back to Abnormal by Louis Alvarez, Andy Kolker, Peter Odabashian, Paul Stekler

What happens when America's most joyous, dysfunctional city rebuilds itself after a disaster? New Orleans is the setting for "Getting Back to Abnormal," a film that serves up a provocative mix of race, corruption and politics to tell the story of the re-election campaign of Stacy Head, a white woman in a city council seat traditionally held by a black representative. Supported by her irrepressible African-American aide Barbara Lacen-Keller, Head polarizes the city as her candidacy threatens to diminish the power and influence of its black citizens. Featuring a cast of characters as colorful as the city itself, the film presents a New Orleans that outsiders rarely see. Official Selection of the 2013 SXSW Film Festival.

A co-production of Itvs.

July 21: Dance for Me by Katrine Philp

Professional ballroom dancing is very big in little Denmark. Since success in this intensely competitive art depends on finding the right partner, aspiring Danish dancers often look beyond their borders to find their matches. In Dance for Me, 15-year-old Russian performer Egor leaves home and family to team up with 14-year-old Mie, one of Denmark's most promising young dancers. Strikingly different, Egor and Mie bond over their passion for Latin dance, and for winning. As they head to the championships, so much is at stake: emotional bonds, career and the future. Dance for Me is a poetic coming-of-age story, with a global twist and thrilling dance moves.

Airing with "Dance for Me" is the StoryCorps animated short A Good Man by The Rauch Brothers. Bryan Wilmoth and his seven younger siblings were raised in a strict, religious home. He talks to his brother Mike about what it was like to reconnect years after their dad kicked Bryan out for being gay. Major funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Produced in association with American Documentary | Pov.

July 28: Fallen City by Qi Zhao

In today's go-go China, an old city completely destroyed by a devastating earthquake can be rebuilt, boasting new and improved civic amenities, in an astoundingly quick two years. But, as "Fallen City" reveals, the journey from the ruined old city of Beichuan to the new Beichuan nearby is long and heartbreaking for the survivors. Three families struggle with loss, most strikingly the loss of children and grandchildre, and feelings of loneliness, fear and dislocation that no amount of propaganda can disguise. First-time director Qi Zhao offers an intimate look at a country torn between tradition and modernity. Official Selection of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. A co-production of Itvs International.

A co-presentation with Caam.

Aug. 4: 15 to Life: Kenneth's Story by Nadine Pequeneza

Does sentencing a teenager to life without parole serve our society well? The United States is the only country in the world that routinely condemns children to die in prison. This is the story of one of those children, now a young man, seeking a second chance in Florida. At age 15, Kenneth Young received four consecutive life sentences for a series of armed robberies. Imprisoned for more than a decade, he believed he would die behind bars. Now a U.S. Supreme Court decision could set him free. "15 to Life: Kenneth's Story" follows Youn's struggle for redemption, revealing a justice system with thousands of young people serving sentences intended for society's most dangerous criminals.

Aug. 11: Encore presentation: Neurotypical by Adam Larsen

Neurotypical is an unprecedented exploration of autism from the point of view of autistic people themselves. Four-year-old Violet, teenaged Nicholas and adult Paula occupy different positions on the autism spectrum, but they are all at pivotal moments in their lives. How they and the people around them work out their perceptual and behavioral differences becomes a remarkable reflection of the "neurotypical" world, the world of the non-autistic, revealing inventive adaptations on each side and an emerging critique of both what it means to be normal and what it means to be human.

Aug. 18: A World Not Ours by Mahdi Fleifel

"A World Not Ours" is a passionate, bittersweet account of one familyâs multi-generational experience living as permanent refugees. Now a Danish resident, director Mahdi Fleifel grew up in the Ain el-Helweh refugee camp in southern Lebanon, established in 1948 as a temporary refuge for exiled Palestinians. Today, the camp houses 70,000 people and is the hometown of generations of Palestinians. The filmmakerâs childhood memories are surprisingly warm and humorous, a testament to the resilience of the community. Yet his yearly visits reveal the increasing desperation of family and friends who remain trapped in psychological as well as political limbo. Official Selection of the 2013 Berlin International Film Festival.

Aug. 25: Big Men by Rachel Boynton

Over five years, director Rachel Boynton and her cinematographer film the quest for oil in Ghana by Dallas-based Kosmos. The company develops the country's first commercial oil field, yet its success is quickly compromised by political intrigue and accusations of corruption. As Ghanaians wait to reap the benefits of oil, the filmmakers discover violent resistance down the coast in the Niger Delta, where poor Nigerians have yet to prosper from decades-old oil fields. "Big Men," executive produced by Brad Pitt, provides an unprecedented inside look at the global deal making and dark underside of energy development, a contest for money and power that is reshaping the world. Official Selection of the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival.

Sept. 1: After Tiller by Martha Shane and Lana Wilson

"After Tiller" is a deeply humanizing and probing portrait of the four doctors in the United States still openly performing third-trimester abortions in the wake of the 2009 assassination of Dr. George Tiller in Wichita, Kansas, and in the face of intense protest from abortion opponents. It is also an examination of the desperate reasons women seek late abortions. Rather than offering solutions, "After Tiller" presents the complexities of these women's difficult decisions and the compassion and ethical dilemmas of the doctors and staff who fear for their own lives as they treat their patients. Official Selection of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.

Sept. 8: The Genius of Marian by Banker White and Anna Fitch

"The Genius of Marian" is a visually rich, emotionally complex story about one family's struggle to come to terms with Alzheimer's disease. After Pam White is diagnosed at age 61 with early-onset Alzheimer's, life begins to change, slowly but irrevocably, for Pam and everyone around her. Her husband grapples with his role as it evolves from primary partner to primary caregiver. Pam's adult children find ways to show their love and support while mourning the gradual loss of their mother. Her eldest son, Banker, records their conversations, allowing Pam to share memories of childhood and of her mother, the renowned painter Marian Williams Steele, who had Alzheimer's herself and died in 2001.

Pov is preempted on Sept. 15 and returns the following week.

Sept. 22: Koch by Neil Barsky

New York City mayors have a world stage on which to strut, and they have made legendary use of it. Yet few have matched the bravado, combativeness and egocentricity that Ed Koch brought to the office during his three terms from 1978 to 1989. As Neil Barskyâs Koch recounts, Koch was more than the blunt, funny man New Yorkers either loved or hated. Elected in the 1970s during the cityâs fiscal crisis, he was a new Democrat for the dawning Reagan era, fiscally conservative and socially liberal. Koch finds the former mayor politically active to the end (he died in 2013), still winning the affection of many New Yorkers while driving others to distraction.

In fall 2014 Pov presents a special broadcast (date and time to be announced):

The Act of Killing by Joshua Oppenheimer

Nominated for an Academy Award, The Act of Killing is as dreamlike and terrifying as anything that Werner Herzog (one of the executive producers) could imagine. This film explores a horrifying era in Indonesian history and provides a window into modern Indonesia, where corruption reigns. Not only is the 1965 murder of an estimated one million people honored as a patriotic act, but the killers remain in power. In a mind-bending twist, death-squad leaders dramatize their brutal deeds in the style of the American westerns, musicals and gangster movies they love, and play both themselves and their victims. As their heroic facade crumbles, they come to question what they've done. Winner, 2014 BAFTA Film Award, Best Documentary.

★★★☆☆ "Fascists can be concerned citizens." This statement, made at a press conference by then-New York mayor Ed Koch, is just one of the many clips in How to Survive a Plague (2012) that plays as both entertainment and as a telling social/political moment. Koch was referring to the members and tactics of 'Act Up New York', the subject of David France's affecting documentary. Highlighting the way the group sought to galvanise public opinion and political will around the AIDS crisis of the late-1980s and early-1990s, How to Survive a Plague unspools like a much-needed record of an important chapter in recent history.

Read more »...

Bill Gates‘ net worth of $72B enabled him to claim the top spot on the Forbes tally for the 20th consecutive year — followed by Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett ($58.5B), Oracle’s Larry Ellison ($41B), and then Koch Industries’ Charles and David Koch ($36B). While Buffett fattened his holdings the most over the last year, adding $12.5B, the recovery in Facebook’s stock helped to boost Mark Zuckerberg‘s net worth by $9.6B to $19B lifting him 16 spots to No. 20. Once again, the list is heavy with names from the tech world — but at least 28 media execs had a net worth of at least $1.3B, the highest amount needed to qualify for the top 400 since 2008. Bloomberg LP founder Michael Bloomberg, who also happens to be mayor of New York, had $31B, putting him in 10th place, same as last year. Cox Communications’ Anne Cox Chambers, with $13.5B, was 29th (+3 on...

There's always one day during the Sdcc when you just shake your head, laugh, and say, "This schedule is ridiculous." Saturday, July 20th, is shaping up to be that day this year.

Horror fans will have a lot of choices to make as the "Bates Motel" panel battles the one-two punch of Godzilla and Seventh Son. Later in the day you'll be faced with choosing to learn more about "True Blood," Telltale's The Walking Dead video game, or "Being Human." Right now 20th Century Fox's presentation that runs at the same time remains "To Be Announced," but once details are revealed, we'll provide an update.

Other panels vying for your attention throughout the day are "The Originals," "Grimm," I, Frankenstein teamed with The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (that combination should make for some interesting audience reactions), a look at gameplay from Dead Rising 3 on the Xbox One, more games, comics,...

DVD Release Date: Aug. 27, 2013

Price: DVD $29.99

Studio: Zeitgeist

Hizzoner Edward I. Koch

Koch is a 2012 documentary film on Edward Irving Koch, the mayor of New York City from 1978 to 1989.

Former Mayor Ed Koch was the quintessential New Yorker. Ferocious, charismatic, and hilariously blunt, Koch, who died in February, 2013 at the age of 88, took office in ’87 and ran the show until ’89—a down-and-dirty decade of grit, graffiti, near-bankruptcy and rampant crime. The tumult of his three terms included a fiercely competitive 1977 election, an infamous 1980 transit strike, the burgeoning AIDS epidemic, landmark housing renewal initiatives, and an irreparable municipal corruption scandal.

Directed by first-time filmmaker (and former Wall Street Journal reporter) Neil Barsky, Koch employs candid interviews and archival footage to craft a portrait of the notoriously private Koch, his legacy as a political titan and the town he helped transform, for better or worse.

Koch received a very small release to 16 screens in February,...

Zeitgeist Films will release two new documentaries: Sophie Fiennes’ "The Perverts' Guide to Ideology" and Fredrik Stanton’s "Uprising." "The Perverts' Guide to Ideology" follows philosophy superstar Slavoj Zizek ("The Perverts' Guide to Cinema") as he uses cinema and psychoanalysis "to explore the mechanisms that shape what we believe and how we behave." The film premiered at the 2012 Toronto Film Festival and will open at the IFC Center this Fall, with a national release to follow. "Uprising"examines the spontaneous social media eruption that brought millions of Egyptians into the streets to protest -- and eventually overthrow -- dictator Hosni Mubarek after years of oppression. It will play selected cities this summer and fall. Zeitgeist’s other 2013 theatrical releases are Neil Barsky’s "Koch," "One Track Heart" by Jeremy Frindel and Margarethe von Trotta’s "Hannah Arendt."...

Title: Koch Director: Neil Barsky For better and worse, and particularly for those on the younger side of the boomer generation, New York City’s mayors have often stood astride national politics, even before the events of September 11, 2001. No one typifies that more than the recently deceased Ed Koch, who was a unique political brand — at once easygoing and tough — whose blunt, blustery appeal can be traced forward in time to a figure like current New Jersey governor Chris Christie. A divisive three-term Democratic mayor whose tenure spanned the 1970s and ’80s and whose post-political career would include gadfly commentary and a two-year stint as the judge on “The People’s [ Read More ]

The post Koch Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Released on the very day that its subject passed away at age 88, Koch is a fitting eulogy for the 105th mayor of New York City. The title may have been held by three men since Ed Koch’s three-term run from 1978 to 1989 but for many New Yorkers, it still belongs to Koch, “the people’s mayor.” Directed by former Wall Street Journal reporter Neil Barsky, the documentary charts both the triumphs and fiascos of the beloved figure while celebrating his singular personality. Quick with a quip and infamously blunt, Koch remained politically active right to the end while reflecting...

In Neil Barsky's beautifully edited engrossing portrait, Koch, we get to see the many facets of former Mayor Koch's political career and glimpse a private man with strong convictions.

"Gosh, when I grow up, I hope to be Ed Koch," we hear New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg gush in 2010, at a Gracie Mansion renaming ceremony for Koch, the bridge. Former Parks Commissioner Henry Stern recalls the summer of 64 in Mississippi and Koch's Chief of Staff Diane Mulcahy Coffey remembers a convincing note from her mother, scribbled on an early New York Times article, "This man is a comer!" Journalists give details on Koch's first mayoral campaign: Michael Powell explains how Koch "checkmated Mario Cuomo", Wayne Barrett adds, "It was a stroke of genius. It was also extraordinarily deceptive", and Julie Purnick emphasises the importance of a former Miss America, "she was a good friend...

It seems timely that Austin Film Society (along with the Austin Jewish Film Festival) is screening the movie Koch this Wednesday, February 13 [details]. Former New York City mayor Ed Koch died on the first day of this month; this documentary about his life and times in office from 1978-89 pulls no punches, yet had his approval and participation.

Director Neil Barsky incorporates interviews with members of the media and New York community leaders along with interviews with Koch himself.  Koch zeroes in on his mayoral tenure, but we also learn about his childhood (his family barely got by running a hat-check station) and his post-mayoral doings. He's even shown puttering alone around his apartment. Songs of the period punctuate the documentary, with Oliver Nelson's bouncy jazz work "Complex City" setting the tone from the start. 

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New York City mayor Ed Koch, who died this past week, loved to say “How’m I doing?” It served as a trademark plea for affirmation from the city he governed from 1978 through 1989. Koch was a relentless striver, rising from modest origins to become one of America’s best-known political figures. Former Wall Street Journal reporter Neil Barsky tackles Ed Koch’s many facets in his directorial debut, entitled Koch. This historically-minded documentary is authoritative in tone while simultaneously painting an impassioned portrait of a man acutely defined by his limitations. It is a familiar story of fierce careerism, both laudatory yet factual in its approach to his controversial tenure in office. And while Koch the politician may have leveraged his participation for a chance to define his own legacy, Koch the movie nevertheless allows a close look at an important, private man. The film opens with members of New York’s current City Council debating the...

A service for the former New York City mayor was held in the city he once governed, and hundreds lined the streets for hours to say goodbye to a man who saved the city from financial ruin, while Bill Clinton delivered a moving speech.

After his sad death at 88 years old on Feb. 1, former Mayor Edward Irving “Ed” Koch is set to be buried in New York City on Feb. 4, following his funeral at the Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan. Ed, who spent his life building up the city, will be buried at the Trinity Church Cemetary, as he said he never wanted to leave Manhattan — even in death. Dignitaries such as Michael Bloomberg, Ido Aharoni and former president Bill Clinton spoke at the funeral.

Ed Koch’s Funeral Details

Ed’s funeral paid tribute to him, as New York Police Department helicopters were planned to fly over the synagogue in his honor,...

Days after passing away from congenital heart failure at age 88, former New York City Mayor Ed Koch is being remembered in a Monday morning service at Manhattan's Temple Emanu-El, featuring speeches from former President Bill Clinton, current Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and the Israeli consul general. New York Police Department helicopters are expected to fly over the synagogue in honor of Koch, and the crowd is expected to be immense. About 350 people were already standing in line outside the synagogue long before the funeral began.

The Oscar-nominated documentary "The Gatekeepers" rolled to an impressive $22,226 per-screen average on three screens over the weekend.  Director Dror Moreh's film tells the story of the Israel's Shin Bet, from the perspective of six former heads of Israel's secret service. The Sony Pictures Classics release took in $66,677 over the weekend. With its Oscar qualifying run added in, its overall total is $86,015. Also read: Former Israeli Spymasters: Their Country's Not Trying Hard Enough to Make Peace "Koch," Neil Barsky's documentary about Edward Koch, debuted on the same day the former mayor...

Four documentaries and the annual collection of the short films nominated for the Academy Awards opened this weekend to generally promising results, giving the specialty box office a nice start to February. The Mvp out of the, er, gate was Dror Moreh's Oscar-nominated documentary "The Gatekeepers," which tells the story of the Israeli Shin Bet from the perspective of six former heads of Israel’s secretive internal security service. Sony Classics released the film on 3 screens and saw a very promising $66,677 gross, for a $22,226 average. That's the second best average of any film to officially debut in 2013 (just behind "Quartet"). Its total including an Oscar qualifying run is $86,015. Also debuting in a tragically timely fashion was Neil Barsky's "Koch," which coincidentally opened in two New York theaters on the same day that it subject -- former NYC mayor Ed Koch -- died. The film -- released by Zeitgeist Films -- grossed.

Neil Barsky's first feature-length film as a director is a documentary on one of the most enigmatic politicians in New York history:  Mayor Ed Koch, who is remembered as both plucky and cowardly, a man willing to fight for what he believed in but unsure how to have a conversation about his disagreements.  Yesterday, as "Koch" was set to debut in New York, news came that the former mayor died at 88 of heart failure.  In their obituary for the mayor, The New York Times describes him by saying the late mayor is "as opinionated as a Flatbush cabby, as loud as the scrums on 42nd Street, as pugnacious as a West Side reform Democrat mother.     Indiewire chatted with Barsky yesterday, as he was headed to do Q&A's at the film's opening night screenings in New York, about his experience making the film and dealing with the man. The...

Mayor Ed Koch at the Film Society of Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theater on January 13, 2013

I asked former New York City Mayor Ed Koch on Sunday afternoon, January 13, 2013, at the Film Society of Lincoln Center's premiere, how he would start his review of Koch. He hesitated for a moment and gave me the above line with that famous twinkle in his eye.

Three-term New York City Mayor Ed Koch at the age of 88 being assisted off the stage.

We were referring to the opening sequence of Neil Barsky's forthright documentary, that shows Koch flying home at night above the city he marked so well. The scene is the film's "first wild promise," to quote The Great Gatsby out of the context F. Scott Fitzgerald used it in, namely to describe the bridge that now bears Koch's name.

"The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time,...

Koch

Directed by Neil Barsky

USA, 2013

The narrative often sold to non-New Yorkers is that New York City in the 1980s was a cesspool, and then Rudy Giuliani came along in the 1990s to clean it up. Like most political narratives, it’s a little loose with the facts. Edward Koch, the mayor of New York in the ‘80s, surely wanted to clean up the city as well, but he also had his own problems to deal with. Neil Barsky’s new documentary Koch tells the story of that era in exacting detail, from Koch’s election in 1977 to his departure from the office in 1989.

The film begins in the present day, with the city council bitterly divided over whether or not it should name the Queensboro bridge after Koch. Barsky then flashes back to Koch’s first mayoral election, in which the former congressman first displayed the blunt brashness...

Former New York City mayor Ed Koch, who is portrayed as a villain in this year’s Oscar-nominated AIDS documentary How to Survive a Plague, may have had a change of heart regarding HIV/AIDS before his death Friday morning, according to Survive a Plague’s director David France.

During his three terms as mayor, from 1978-1988, Koch was among many high-profile lawmakers, including President Reagan, who did little to nothing to stop the disease’s spread, France says. “He was one of the most vehement obstacles to any sort of rational response to the mushrooming epidemic.”

Yet when Survive a Plague premiered last year,...

Former New York City mayor Ed Koch died this morning. Beyond his political career he will be remembered for making his mark on television and in movies. Just chheck out his IMDb page! He hosted Saturday Night Live before Giuliani, hung out with the Muppets in The Muppets Take Manhattan, and had a cameo in The First Wives Club.

Here are some clips from Koch’s decade-spanning career in the limelight:

1. Sex and the City

Carrie Bradshaw thinks that she is going to be a big-time model in a fashion show. Turns out, the show is full of famous New Yorkers of all ages.

As the former mayor of New York City, Ed Koch, who died today at the age of 88, was a prominent pop culture figure in his own right. He appeared in several movies and TV shows; "Sex and the City," "The Muppets Take Manhattan," "The First Wives Club" and "The Hebrew Hammer" are just a few of the productions in which he appeared as himself.

But Koch was also a true movie lover. After his mayoral tenure, he became a bona fide critic, reviewing films for a New York area newspaper. And in 2009 he started an online video series called "The Mayor at the Movies."

Koch screened films with regular audience members, and his reviews (ending with either a "plus" or a "minus") reflected that Ordinary Guy ethos. These are highlights from a few of his video segments:

"The Hurt Locker"

"This movie will have you at the edge of your seat for its entire length.

A number of documentaries hit the limited release circuit this weekend, including Neil Barsky's eerily timely "Koch," a clear-eyed portrait of the former NY mayor who just today passed away at the age of 88, and Dave Grohl's "Sound City," with interviews from a panoply of big names from rock history. Both are very well reviewed. Alex Gibney's look at the rough-and-tumble NHL, "The Last Gladiators," isn't quite passing the goal line, meeting mixed reviews. Meanwhile, the latest Young Adult bait "Warm Bodies" has some kick to it, while genre veteran Walter Hill's "Bullet to the Head," starring Stallone, doesn't hit the mark. "Bullet to the Head" Dir. Walter Hill, USA | Warner Bros. Pictures | Cast: Sylvestore Stallone, Jason Momoa, Christian Slater | 48% Rotten | NPR: "The plot fails to deliver a single surprise, however, and the characterizations are thin even by the standards of the tough-guy...

Ed Koch is the subject of a new documentary that releases wide on Friday; it promises to be a much kinder depiction than the one in David France's Oscar-nominated film How to Survive a Plague. The former three-term mayor of New York City died early Friday morning of congestive heart failure at the age of 88. In a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday, France, who was a journalist during the AIDS epidemic that ravaged New York's gay community throughout the 1980s and whose film shows footage of Koch arguing angrily with protestors, was critical of the then-mayor's response

read more...

    Ed Koch, New York City's 105th mayor, has died at 88. The three-term politician passed away from congestive heart failure. His health had been declining in recent years. Coincidentally, the Zeitgeist Films documentary about Koch's life and career opens in theaters today. We've shared a trailer for the film below, in which the former mayor's trademark phrase "How'm I Doing?" can be heard. Many people don't know that Koch was an avid movie lover, and even hosted his own weekly review series since 2009 called Mayor at the Movies. Yes, Koch was the movie-loving grandpa you never had. Rumor has it he preferred to attend screenings with his fellow New Yorkers instead of watching them during private showings. Given how personable...

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Dead at 88 on the day Neil Barsky’s Koch, an entertaining documentary on his life, opens in New York City, former mayor Ed Koch got to watch himself on the big screen visiting his own future grave, for which he had written a fulsome epitaph. It is not “How’d I do?” but something along the lines of how much he loved his city and his country. His definition of love was different from others’. Many gays I know — the ones who in the eighties watched people they loved die of AIDS while the closeted mayor did little to assist them in their plight — have expressed a desire not just to dance on that grave but also to build a dance club. The movie, however, might soften that anger. Barsky makes Koch’s arrogance so plain that you quickly move past it and concede — along with some of the...

Ed Koch, the former New York mayor and movie critic, died Friday in a Manhattan hospital. He was 88. The three-term mayor died of congestive heart failure at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia Hospital, a family spokesman told the Associated Press. He died just two days after a documentary about his life, entitled "Koch," premiered in New York. Koch was expected at the premiere, but was admitted to the hospital a day earlier with fluid in his lungs and shortness of breath. Koch took over at City Hall in 1978 and was credited with lifting New...

Former New York Mayor Ed Koch died Friday morning of congestive heart failure. He was 88. As previously reported, Koch, in "obvious discomfort," was admitted to the intensive care unit at New York-Presbyterian Hospital on Thursday. He had been hospitalized since Monday for a fluid buildup in his lungs. Due to his health problems, Koch could not make Tuesday's screening of director Neil Barsky's film about the mayor’s career, Koch. The ex-lawyer served in Congress from 1968 to 1977, when he ran for New York mayor. He served three terms, helping save the city from financial collapse, until David

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Ed Koch -- one of the most popular mayors in New York City history -- died early this morning at the age of 88.Koch had been hospitalized earlier this month for a lung ailment. He was also hospitalized last September for anemia and battled pneumonia last December.Koch served in the United States House of Representatives from 1969-1977 and three terms as mayor of New York City from 1978-1989. He's credited with rescuing the city...

The well-respected former mayor of New York City died on Feb. 1. So sad.

Edward Irving “Ed” Koch, the former three-term mayor of the Big Apple, passed away on Feb. 1 in New York City. He spent most of his life living in and building up a city that he loved. He was 88 years old.

The History Of Ed Koch

Ed grew up in New Jersey, and later attended the City College of New York. He was drafted into the United States Army in 1943, where he earned two battle stars as a Combat Infantryman. In 1946 he was honorably discharged with the rank of sergeant and returned to New York City to pursue a law degree from Nyu School of Law.

After practicing law for a number of years, Ed became active in politics. He served as a congressman for nine years in New York, and for two years as a member of the New York City Council.

Former New York mayor Ed Koch passed away this morning at the age of 88.

Koch had been hospitalized in the past few months for various ailments, including fatigue and shortness of breath, and is believed to have died of congestive heart failure, according to The Associated Press.

The outspoken Bronx native served as a Congressional representative from 1969 to 1997 and was then elected as Mayor of New York City.

Koch's reign as NYC's mayor lasted until 1989, as the beloved politician was twice reelected as mayor by overwhelming majorities of 75 and 78 percent, respectively.

Beyond his affection for politics, the treasured New York politician was an entertainment lover and made cameos in dozens of films and television shows over the years, including appearances on Saturday Night Live.

Combining his love for politics and entertainment, Koch was also a judge on The People's Court for a few years in the late '90s.

An animated...

Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch, whose folksy yet firm style guided the metropolis from 1978 to 1989, died of congestive heart failure in New York Presbyterian/Columbia Hospital early Friday morning, his spokesman confirmed to news outlets. He was 88. Koch, who had a long history of cardiac problems, made repeated visits to the hospital in the past six months. His latest took place this week, forcing him to miss Tuesday night's Museum of Modern Art premiere of a documentary film about his life, Koch, which opens in limited release on Friday. What Hizzoner, as he was called, was famous for...

Rip, Ed Koch. The unforgettable New York City mayor, who served three terms from 1977 to 1986, died on Friday (Feb. 1) at 2 a.m., his spokesman confirmed to media outlets. Beloved for his trademark Bronx accent, in-your-face demeanor and his typical "How'm I doin?" greeting, Koch suffered congestive heart failure late Thursday, and passed away in intensive care at a local hospital. He was 88 years old. Koch began his career as an attorney who entered the political realm in the early 1960. He became [...]...

Former New York Mayor Ed Koch has been admitted to the intensive care unit at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. Koch, 88, “was in obvious discomfort” Thursday, his spokesman, George Arzt, told CNN affiliate Wcbs. The ex-mayor and his cardiologist determined he should be placed in the ICU. Photos: 20 Biggest Political Players in Hollywood He has been hospitalized since Monday, when he was admitted with a fluid buildup in his lungs. On Tuesday, the democratic public servant was unable to attend a screening of director Neil Barsky's film about the mayor’s career, Koch. The former lawyer served in Congress

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Whether you loved Ed Koch, mayor of New York City from 1978 through 1989, or hated him -- there seemed to be little middle ground -- you simply couldn’t avoid him during that decade, and even to this day, he remains a public figure in the city with a presence scaled way beyond any actual remaining influence. He reviews movies on local media! He’s on Twitter! The Queensboro Bridge has been renamed the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge! (A cheat sheet for my U.K. readers: London mayor Boris Johnson wishes he was this outrageous, and would surely love to endure as an urban fixture for a quarter of a century after he leaves office.) Former Wall Street Journal reporter Neil Barsky makes his feature documentary debut here with a film that, astonishingly, might possibly please everyone, regardless of their opinion of Koch. With great good humor -- including that of Koch himself,...

“Koch,” a documentary by first-time filmmaker Neil Barsky, depicts a New York barely recognizable today as it grappled with graffiti, arson, rampant crime, crack, AIDS and racial strife; a city that was on the brink of bankruptcy and was the laughing stock of the country. And he shows how Mayor Ed Koch (1978 to 1989), as polarizing as he was popular, transformed the city with his chutzpah and larger-than-life personality.

Mayor Koch hardly presided over the city's best of times. But in history's rearview mirror, objects appear nicer than they were

Ed Koch is everywhere at the moment, or at least in three documentaries: the one about the Central Park Five, the one about Aids activism in the 1980s (which was just shortlisted for an Oscar), and as the subject of Koch, a love letter to the former New York mayor, in which the filmmaker follows him around and documents his irreverence. (To wit: after Andrew Cuomo stood him up at an election rally, he calls Cuomo "a schmuck"; and Koch responds to a question about his sexuality with "It's none of your fucking business.")

A week ago, Ed Koch appeared in person at Lincoln Center, to answer questions after a screening of the documentary. He was frail and pushed to the stage in a wheelchair, but in spirited form,...

Zeitgeist Films announces the theatrical release of "Koch," a documentary by Neil Barsky centering on former New York mayor Ed Koch, who governed Gotham in the down-and-dirty decade betweeen 1978 and 1989. Trailer below. The film had its world premiere at the Hamptons International Film Festival, and recently its West Coast debut at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. The Hollywood Reporter writes, "Made with the former mayor's cooperation but allowing ample screen time to those with harsh things to say about him, Neil Barsky's Koch offers as comprehensive a picture as it can in 94 minutes of a man whose tenure merits a miniseries." Zeitgeist is releasing the film on February 1 in NY and March 1 in La.

Hollywood is littered with the battered and bruised victims of Nikki Finke's caustic byline, who now finally have someone they can blame — besides Finke's famously short temper: Former New York Mayor Ed Koch. In a rare interview with the New York Observer, where she served as west coast editor and Hollywood columnist in the late nineties, Finke remembers how working in Koch's House of Representatives office first piqued her interest in journalism. She was a lowly staff assistant at the time, a starry-eyed "ex-debutante" straight out of Wesleyan who wanted nothing more than proximity to the halls of political power. But "when I saw the way Ed and his staff would genuflect to journalists," Finke says, "I went, 'Oh, I want to do that.'"From Capitol Hill she left to the Associated Press and a ruthlessly ambitious career that would one day land her atop the writhing heap...

When David France was in the middle of production of his film "How to Survive a Plague" (Sundance '12 and an IFC Films/Sundance Selects release), which looks at the AIDS activist group Act Up from its creation and most robust years through to challenges launched by the Treatment Action Group, he was made aware that former New York City mayor Ed Koch had caught wind of the film. Koch is a particularly interesting character. He was mayor from 1978 to 1989, during the first several years of the AIDS epidemic, and he was the target of many New York AIDS activists' ire. In conversation with Indiewire, France repeated two chants he heard in the footage of Act Up events that both held Koch accountable for the city's policies and questioned the bachelor's sexuality, which was in question throughout his political career: "C'mon Ed, honey -- spend the money," and "New York AIDS care is ineffectual.

Zeitgeist Films has acquired debut filmmaker Neil Barsky’s documentary “Koch” for a late January theatrical release. The film will have its world premiere at the Hamptons Film Festival October 8, with the film’s subject, former New York City Mayor Ed Koch, in attendance to deliver an introduction and participate in a Q&A. “Ed Koch is an institution, and when you say ‘New York’ you practically think of him in the same breath,” said Zeitgeist co-presidents Emily Russo and Nancy Gerstman. “We certainly do, and we have much admiration for Neil’s ability to capture, with humor and grace, the essence of this multifaceted -- and complex -- man. Through the use of rare archival footage, ‘Koch’ also captures the vibrancy of New York City in the 1980s, as it struggles with AIDS, crack and homelessness.” Read More: 'Queen of Versailles' Dp Tom Hurwitz Shares 4 Essential Tips for Shooting Cinema.