The Ithaca College Gerontology Institute will host a showing of the documentary “The Age of Love,” a film that follows the humorous and poignant adventures of 30 seniors who sign up for a first-of-its-kind speed dating event exclusively for 70- to 90-year-olds. Free and open to the public, the screening will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 14, at 6:30 p.m. in Textor 102.
The film will be followed by a discussion with filmmaker Steven Loring and one of the speed daters who appears in it — his own mother.
Born in the years before World War II, none of the 30 registrants for the senior speed-dating event dreamt of being flung into the high-tech social scene of the new millennium. The film takes viewers where no documentary has gone before — directly into the lives of older singles who still yearn to be seen and understood, who still desire another’s touch, who seek a new chance at love.
“My desire to explore this issue began when my dad’s death ended an intense half-century love affair, leaving my still-vibrant mother struggling to face a new life alone,” says Loring, who had been a screenwriter for several network television movies.
When a “healthy aging” coalition in Rochester, New York, announced the speed-dating event for seniors, it struck Loring as both iconoclastic and obvious.
“We’re all destined to age, and the aged were all once young. Here was a unique chance to discover how age affects our desire to start over, to be held once again in someone’s arms, to seek new companionship and affection.”
The showing and discussion are sponsored by the Gerontology Institute and Project Generations, a student organization that aims to reduce social stigma about seniors and recognize their value as community members with rich life experiences worth sharing.
For more information, visit www.ithaca.edu/gerontology.