Ed Koch appeared in the movie “Captured,” a biopic on Lower East Side documentarian Clayton Patterson, and he attended its New York premiere in June 2008 at a Rooftop Films screening atop New Design High School on Grand St. on the Lower East Side. The rock band A.R.E. Weapons also played at the screening, which was attended by a mainly young crowd of about 1,100 people. Also at the screening with Koch was Henry Stern. During the clashes between police and radical activists in Tompkins Square in ’88, Koch was mayor and Stern was the city’s Parks Department commissioner. In a note afterward to Jenner Furst, the film’s editor and one its producers, Koch wrote, “I thought the film was very well done, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I wish you much success and appreciate your including me in it and inviting me to the premiere. The immense size of the audience attending was a sign of your certain success.”
