360 | 365 film fest draws more than 12,000 viewers
By Stuart Low • May 17, 2010
From the Democrat and Chronicle

The 360 | 365 George Eastman House Film Festival broke attendance records for the 9-year-old event.

More than 12,000 people attended the festival, which featured 87 movies from May 5 to May 9. Ticket sales increased by more than 25 percent from last year, said executive director John Richardson.

“We are thrilled with the results,” he says. “This festival is truly a community effort.”

It was a year of change for the festival. First, the High Falls International Film Festival was renamed 360 | 365. Then it joined forces with the George Eastman House.

Locally produced films, classics and new movies from 20 countries were screened at George Eastman House’s Dryden Theatre and the Little Theatre.

Special awards went to James Ivory of Merchant Ivory Productions and to Thelma Schoonmaker, who edited all of Martin Scorsese’s films.

Ivory’s latest production, The City of Your Final Destination, was one of four movies to sell out at the festival. Another was Davis Guggenheim’s Waiting for ‘Superman’, a documentary about today’s crises in American public education. These are both expected to be released in movie theaters.

The Red Shoes, a restored version of the 1948 ballet movie, and We Can Shine, a new documentary about obstacles and successes experienced by developmentally disabled students, also sold out.

We Can Shine was made by Adrian Esposito, a 21-year-old Brighton man with Asperger’s syndrome. George Eastman House gave it an unplanned second screening because of an overflow crowd.