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WHAT FILMMAKER DOESN’T HOPE TO SCREEN in one of America’s elegant, original Bijous?

On Wednesday, September 10, THE AGE OF LOVE came to the historic Bijou Theatre in Bridgeport, CT — a 1909 vaudeville stop where Tom Mix opened in ‘Pride of the Range’ — for one free, pilot screening, complete with cocktails and sponsored by the amazing team at CT AARP.

Before ticketing was halted, 240 reservations were requested, selling out the 202-seat house.

From our interview on the ‘Connecticut Style’ morning show on WTNH (ABC) in New Haven to an intense nighttime Q&A — both with AARP’s exuberant Dating and Relationship Ambassador Dr. Pepper Schwartz — it was an awesome screening day and chance to share our themes with a packed house.

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WE’RE EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE THAT both the Danish Broadcasting Corporation and Swedish Educational Broadcasting have licensed THE AGE OF LOVE for television airing in their respective countries.

It’s interesting to note that Sweden recently took the #1 spot as ‘the best country in the world to grow old’ in the 2013 Global AgeWatch rankings of world support for older populations. Sweden took top honors in all four categories, including the creation of an Enabling Environment allowing older adults “to live independent and self-reliant lives.” Overall, Nordic countries did best, with Norway and Iceland also in the top 10. Denmark was #17, the USA was at #8. At the bottom was Afghanistan, with an overall score of 3.3 out of 100. Check out this fascinating report.

And, if you’d like to raise your country’s ranking by broadcasting THE AGE OF LOVE, please contact our worldwide sales agent, Films Transit. Festivals and educational groups may contact us directly.

And, if you live in Scandinavia, watch your local listings!

by Linda Abbit, SENIOR PLANET

FILMMAKER STEVEN LORING WANTED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED to love as we age. For answers, he followed a group of speed daters in their 70s and 80s. The result is a powerful film about resilience and universality.

“I’m trying to get the stories that aren’t told and the feelings that aren’t exposed. Would you be open to being interviewed?”

The “I” is Steven Loring, a 40-something-year-old fledgling filmmaker who is making his first full-length documentary film. The “You” is a succession of seniors in the Rochester area whom Loring is contacting in the hope they will become subjects in his film. They’ve all signed up for a senior speed dating event that Loring has picked as the locus for his exploration of love and how it changes – or doesn’t – as we age.     Read more…

WHAT A CONCEPT: Speed dating for 70- to 90-year-old singles! “The Age of Love” held its Southern California premiere at the 2014 Newport Beach Film Festival, and is a fun, entertaining and sensitive social documentary of our times.

The film allows a peek inside the journey of a small group of adventurous seniors in Rochester, NY who enroll in a first-of-its-kind speed dating event.

“The great secret old people share is that your body changes, but you don’t change at all” – this quote by Doris Lessing, the oldest writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, is an ideal backdrop message for this insightful documentary story.

Read more…

A special screening of THE AGE OF LOVE was an audience favorite at Documentary Day of AARP’s Life@50+ National Expo at the Boston Convention Center.

Love and relationship guru Pepper Schwartz was on hand to introduce the film to guests in the 1700-seat theater, as well as to participate in a lively Q&A. We asked the audience whether “American media portray older adults’ emotions accurately” – the results:

Strongly Disagree: 20%
Disagree: 32%
Neutral: 23%
Agree: 10%
Strongly Agree: 15%

So three-quarters felt the older heart is misrepresented by our popular media. We’ll sort results by age and see if opinions change as we get older. Stay tuned…

With three amazing screenings followed by three gala parties, THE AGE OF LOVE celebrated its official festival premiere at the 2014 Newport Beach Film Festival.

From the moment we arrived on the red carpet, the hospitality couldn’t have been warmer (or the Pacific surf more refreshing!). Most rewarding, reps from over a dozen organizations from Laguna Woods down south all the way north past LA approached us to plan screenings and dating events over the coming year. So we’re on our way…

DO DECADES OF LIVE AND LOSS constrict our hearts, or might time develop them in unexpected ways? That’s the question filmmaker Steven Loring seeks to answer in “The Age of Love,” a documentary that follows the adventures of 30 seniors in Rochester, New York, who sign up for a speed dating event for 70 to 90 year olds.

The 90-minute film chronicles both the speed dating event and the nerve-wracking date drama that follows. It will premiere at the Newport Beach Film Festival April 27, April 29 and May 1.

Speed dating is a matchmaking process that allows participants to meet a number of potential dating partners for a set time period, usually about five minutes.    Read more

ON THE DAY BEFORE VALENTINE’S DAY, THE AGE OF LOVE was invited back to Rochester, NY – the city where it all began – for an interview on WXXI, the local NPR affiliate.

Director Steven Loring and speed dater Janice Ledtke sat down with host Evan Dawson for a chat on how the film came about – and how it illuminates the struggles of American seniors to redefine their emotional lives in a radically changing world.