Editor

COPYING BEETHOVEN, Agnieszka Holland’s opus on the famed composer’s last year of life, starring Ed Harris and Diane Kruger, will open the 6th Annual High Falls Film Festival in Rochester, NY on Wednesday evening November 8, 2006. Ms. Holland, who is expected to be on hand in Rochester, will receive the Festival’s Susan B. Anthony “Failure Is Impossible” Award.

Ludwig van Beethoven -- sexy? When Ed Harris plays him, you bet he is, and not just sexy, also bawdy, irascible, passionate, violent - a turmoil of contradictions, and a genius, too, of course. Diane Kruger is the ambitious young composition student/copyist sent by his publisher to help him set down his Ninth Symphony. It’s 1824, and a woman in this role is almost unthinkable, but Anna’s self confidence and dire necessity combine to get her the job. So begins a fascinating, complicated (fictional) relationship.

COPYING BEETHOVEN is a richly imagined story by writer Christopher Wilkinson, and it is beautifully executed by Agnieszka Holland at her most romantic. The masterful sequence built around the first public performance of Beethoven’s Ninth, with the beautiful young copyist aiding the maestro while she’s transported by his creation, will sing in your memory...whatever your taste in music.

Oscar® nominated Agnieszka Holland, who is currently working in Israel, but is trying to arrange her schedule in order to attend, will receive the festival’s Susan B. Anthony “Failure is Impossible” Award. Each year, the award is presented to women in the film industry who have persevered in their careers and triumphed over difficulties. The Warsaw born director is best known in the U.S. for her Oscar-Nominated "Angry Harvest", "Europa, Europa," "Olivier, Olivier," "The Secret Garden” and "Washington Square."

High Falls is a festival with a difference – its mission. Susan B. Anthony lived in Rochester as did George Eastman. It was logical that the founders of the festival chose to honor the founders of the women’s movement and filmmaking with a program that presents a wide variety of movies, while focusing on the achievements of women in the industry, to do something (as Susan B might have) to show that women in film work in all roles in the industry, make films in all genres, and to help correct the imbalance of employment for women in so many areas.

Among the talented honorees and guests who have joined us at the High Falls Film Festival are such luminaries as Angela Bassett, Candice Bergen, Joan Allen, Christine Lahti, Jane Alexander, director Mira Nair, Tony Goldwyn, Campbell Scott, cinematographer John Bailey and many more. The 2006 High Falls Film Festival, November 8-13, will offer 75+ feature-length films, short films for adults, youth and children’s films, panel discussions and informal “Coffee With” events featuring visiting filmmakers, seminars, master classes, and opportunities to hear tales of the movie business from well-known stars.