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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.

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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.

THE AGE OF LOVE is incredibly proud to have received a 2013 Fledgling Fund grant, awarded to documentary films ‘that have the potential to change hearts and minds and ignite social change through innovative distribution, strategic outreach and audience engagement.’ Our plan is to design and distribute a complete, do-it-yourself Senior Speed Dating kit to be provided, along with a copy of the film, to community centers and healthy aging programs nationwide. The goal is to foster both a new conversation between generations about emotional needs, as well as to provide seniors with a useful, fun and much-needed social outlet.

Communities who organize an event will report local reaction, results and media attention back to this website, where anyone can then follow the progress of and response to the movement across the country (feature to launch later in 2014).

If you’d like to lend support to our project in your community, please let us know.

And, if you’re single and over 70, get ready to date!

https://www.theageoflovemovie.com/host-dating-event/