Avant-garde filmmaker Manfred Kirchheimer, 93, died at his Manhattan home on July 16. Kirchheimer wrote, produced and directed many short films, focusing on such New York-centric subjects as stickball, jazz, subway graffiti, immigrants, and fading architecture. “He found dignity and delight in what other New Yorkers overlooked or even disdained, wrote the NY Times. Kirchheimer was born in Germany to a newspaper caricaturist father; his Jewish family wisely fled Germany in 1935 (their experience was covered in his film We Were So Beloved). Among Kirchheimer’s other films were Tall: The American Skyscraper and Louis Sullivan, Spraymasters, Stations of the Elevated, and Free Time. He also taught film production at the School of Visual Arts for more than 30 years.
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