(Rochester, NY) - The home of George Eastman, the Father of Film, and Susan B. Anthony, the Mother of the Woman’s Movement – what a better place to mount the HIGH FALLS FILM FESTIVAL (November 9-13) which honored the work of women in film with a program that presented a wide variety of movies, while focusing on the achievements of women in the industry, to do something (as Susan B might have) to help correct the imbalance of employment for women in so many areas. Besides all the great films and seminars, there were the honors… The Susan B. Anthony “Failure is Impossible” Award and the “Web of Life Award.” This year, the “Failure is Impossible” Award was presented by Executive Director Catherine Wyler (daughter of great film director, William Wyler) to four dynamic women who work both behind and in front of the camera….Angela Bassett, Norma Heyman, Diane Ladd and Christine Lahti, while Actor/Director/Activist/Artistic Czar Jane Alexander received the “Web of Life” Award.

The 2005 AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARD for BEST NARRATIVE FILM was presented to Roger Donaldson’s THE WORLD’S FASTEST INDIAN (New Zealand), based on the life story of New Zealander Burt Munro, who spent years building a 1920 Indian motorcycle -- a bike which helped him set the land-speed world record at Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats in 1967, starring Anthony Hopkins and 2005 Susan B. Anthony Award recipient Diane Ladd.

The 2005 AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARD for BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM was presented to first time feature directors Renée Sotile and Mary Jo Godges for their portrait of an immensely vibrant, generous, intelligent woman in CHRISTA MCAULIFFE: REACH FOR THE STARS (US, World Premiere).

Artistic Director Catherine Wyler and Managing Director/Co-Programmer Ruth Cowing traveled across the country and around the world in their search for the most dynamic work by women to emerge this year. This year’s festival featured 87 feature length narrative and documentary films as well as shorts packages from around the world and for all ages. Attendance figures broke all previous years

The Festival also presented seminars, panels and other special events throughout its five days and nights. Among them were panels on screenwriting, acting, documentaries, and one on the future of movies called “Movies in the 21st Century: Visions of the Future” with panelists Krysanne Katsoolis, Sydney Levine, and Tony Safford.

High Falls Film Festival is sponsored by New York State, Monroe County, Eastman Kodak Company, the City of Rochester, Harris Beach PLLC, Rochester Area Community Foundation, the New York State Council on the Arts and Delta Stratagem. Media sponsors include the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, WHEC-TV 10 and City Newspaper.

SOURCE: High Falls Film Festival