High Falls Film Festival Explained

The High Falls Film Festival, founded in 2001, is a film festival that focuses on celebrating women in film. The festival is inspired by Rochester, New York's legacy in nitrate film and the women’s rights movement.

High Falls Film Festival presents multiple features, documentaries, and shorts, including a children's program and student-filmmaker program. The festival includes emerging and established female talent, with past guests including actresses Kerry Washington, Christine Lahti, Angela Bassett, Jane Alexander, Candice Bergen, Joan Allen, Famke Janssen, and CCH Pounder,[1] and voice-over actress Nancy Cartwright. The festival is held in Rochester's East End entertainment district.

The festival aligned with the Rochester International Film Festival in 2007 and with George Eastman House in 2009 under the name George Eastman House 360 | 365 Film Festival.[2] [3] The festival took a hiatus in 2012 and returned in 2013.[4] In 2021, the organization changed format from an annual event to a monthly series at Rochester's Little Theatre.[5]

Awards

The Susan B. Anthony "Failure is Impossible" Award
Honors a woman in the film industry who has persevered in her career and triumphed over difficulties.

The Golden Lens Award for Cinematography
Honors a person who has made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of cinematography.

The Rochester Film Legacy Award
Honors a filmmaker or film supporter based in the Rochester area whose passion and dedication embodies Rochester’s proud film legacy.

The Faith Hubley "Web of Life" Award
Named after its first recipient, honors a woman who understands the power of art in connecting with an audience and in making the world a better place.

The Elizabeth Cady Stanton "Thorn in the Side" Award
Honors women who exemplify the collaborative nature of film and video. The award is named in honor of Stanton, who said: "If there is one part of my life which gives me more intense satisfaction than another, it is my friendship with Susan B. Anthony... we have indeed been thorns in the side of each other..."

Audience Choice Awardees
Festival audiences chose Best Feature, Best Documentary and Best Short. Past Audience Award winners include:

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2008

2009

2010

2011

2016

See also

References

  1. Gallagher, Michael Aaron (May 30, 2009). 2009 Rochester High Falls International Film Festival honors ground-breaking pioneers . Retrieved 05-30-2009.
  2. News: Janice B. . Pieterse . Film festivals merge, hire director, move date . Rochester Business Journal . 2007-06-20 . 2007-06-21 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070928055605/http://www.rbj.net/fullarticle.cfm?sdid=67317 . 2007-09-28 . dead .
  3. News: Anna . Reguero . George Eastman House joins area film festival . . . . 1A . 2009-12-23 . https://archive.today/20091223134234/http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20091223/NEWS01/912230386/George-Eastman-House-joins-area-film-festival . 2009-12-23 . 2009-12-23 . dead .
  4. News: Stuart . Low . High Falls Film Festival to return in 2013 . . 2012-11-20 .
  5. News: Spevak . Jeff . High Falls Women’s Film Festival shifts to monthly showings . 13 May 2024 . WXXI News . 9 July 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221204005711/https://www.wxxinews.org/arts-life/2021-07-09/high-falls-womens-film-festival-shifts-to-monthly-showings . 4 December 2022 . en.
  6. News: Garner . Jack . High Falls Film Festival coming to Little Theatre . 13 May 2024 . Democrat and Chronicle . 27 October 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200923202119/https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/lifestyle/2017/10/27/high-falls-film-festival-rochester-original/806704001/ . 23 September 2020.

External links