High Falls Women's Film Festival

9 am - Kodak 16mm Filmmaking Workshop - Free, but pre-registration required.Every filmmaker should experience real film, and in this hands-on Kodak workshop participants will demystify 16mm film loading and familiarize makers with the different film formats. Dive into the magic of celluloid and have the opportunity to film… on film! Session includes shooting in downtown Rochester (walking and some lifting required) and will be held rain or shine. Taught by Randy Tack, cinematographer and former Worldwide Motion Picture Educator, Eastman Kodak Co. (Meet in Festival Lounge)

10:30 am - Saturday “Coffee Chat” – FREE Admission - Engage with filmmakers and festival fans from a front-row-seat during an intimate and informal one-hour talk. Special guests for this session will be entertainment lawyers Mark Costello and Alan Lockwood of Boylan Code LLP. Chats will be held in the Festival Lounge, next to Little Theatre #1 (enter from East Avenue). FREE admission.

 10:30 am - Kids’ Short Films Program – FREE Admission - For over a decade, the High Falls Film Festival has been proud to host special encores of the annual Rochester International Children’s Film Festival. This year’s collection includes 12 films that artistically inspire imagination and thoughtful problem solving in children. Notably, three of the films have been made with children involved in the creative process. The hour-long program includes films from 10 different countries – Croatia, Estonia, Argentina, Georgia and Saipan to name a few – as well as one made right here in Rochester by local schoolchildren! Many of the films have received significant awards. Appropriate for pre-school, elementary, and kids at heart! (In Little Theatre #5)

11:30 am -  Kodak 16mm Filmmaking Workshop - Free, but pre-registration required.Every filmmaker should experience real film, and in this hands-on Kodak workshop participants will demystify 16mm film loading and familiarize makers with the different film formats. Dive into the magic of celluloid and have the opportunity to film… on film! Session includes shooting in downtown Rochester (walking and some lifting required) and will be held rain or shine. Taught by Randy Tack, cinematographer and former Worldwide Motion Picture Educator, Eastman Kodak Co. (Meet in Festival Lounge)

12 pm - A Fine Line – with director Q&A - A Fine Line explores why only 6% of head chefs and restaurant owners are women, when traditionally women have always held the central role in the kitchen. Hear perspectives and experiences from world-renowned chefs, including: World’s Best Female Chef Dominique Crenn, Time Magazine’s 1 of the Most Influential People Barbara Lynch, 2 Michelin Star Chef April Bloomfield, 3 Michelin Star Chef Elena Arzak, Emmy Award Nominated Chef Lidia Bastianich, World’s Best Chef Daniel Humm and many more. (In Theatre #1)

12:30 pm - Short Films by the Women of RIT’s School of Film and Animation - A tradition since the festival began in 2001, High Falls proudly presents a shorts program showcasing work by the female students of the School of Film and Animation (SOFA) at Rochester Institute of Technology. This year we feature both live action and animated films. (In Little Theatre #5)

2 pm - Kodak 16mm Filmmaking Workshop - Free, but pre-registration required. Every filmmaker should experience real film, and in this hands-on Kodak workshop participants will demystify 16mm film loading and familiarize makers with the different film formats. Dive into the magic of celluloid and have the opportunity to film… on film! Session includes shooting in downtown Rochester (walking and some lifting required) and will be held rain or shine. Taught by Randy Tack, cinematographer and former Worldwide Motion Picture Educator, Eastman Kodak Co. (Meet in Festival Lounge)

2:30 pm - Beyond the Summit - Alexey Tsarev is a seventeen-year-old school leader and a promising champion of the Junior Alpine skiing team. Alexei has a girlfriend Lina and a friend Kostya, his rival in sports, and in love. Alexey is the first in everything, he is confident in himself, and he does not want to lose. However, everything changes in a flash after a tragic accident. The film is not so much about the trials that each character had to undergo and experience, but about what helps a person to overcome difficulties in life. (Little Theatre #1)

3 pm - Fiddlin’ – with Q&A - Fiddlin’ is an uplifting Old Time and Bluegrass music documentary that takes place at the world’s oldest Fiddler’s Convention in the Appalachian Mountains. Wayne Henderson, a world-renowned luthier known as the “guitar god,” is both a master craftsman and master storyteller. His friendship with 11-year old guitar prodigy Presley Barker shows just how closely knit a community of musicians can be. (In Little Theatre #5)

5 pm - The Judge – with Q&A - Religious courts in the Middle East had historically banned women from adjudicating domestic and family matters – in both the Shari’a courts of Islam and the Rabbinic courts of Judaism – until Kholoud Al-Faqih dares to challenge that history. With the support of a progressive Sheik, Kholoud becomes the first woman judge with her appointment to a Palestinian Shari’a court in the West Bank, bringing subtle new perspective garnered from her early professional life working with battered women as an attorney in both the criminal and Shari’a courts. (Little Theatre #1)

5:30 pm - Short Films Program 2 - Courageous women in vastly different circumstances show the power of the human spirit. (In Little Theatre #5)

7:30 pm - The White Orchid – with director Q&A - Shy and reserved, Claire Decker, 30ish, is a part-time investigator for Social Services. Typically, she solves cases where senior citizens have died alone, leaving no indication of who must handle their estate. This time however, Claire is reluctantly drawn into a puzzling murder case.  (Little Theatre #1)

9 pm - Saturday Night Spotlight Party - Cap off the biggest day of the festival with us in the old world grandeur of The Century Club, located at 566 East Avenue. Party with filmmakers and film fans in the heart of Rochester’s entertainment district, while enjoying decadent desserts and a cash bar.  Complimentary valet parking. Featuring music by Hanna and the Blue Hearts – Classic Blues with a Sweet Dose of Swing and Boogie Woogie!