The Story

Born in the years around WWII, none of the 30 registrants for Rochester’s first senior speed dating event dreamed of being flung into the high-tech social scene of the next millennium. But now, as posters go up, local media buzzes and anticipation grows, these typically-overlooked elders are spurred to confront the realities of physical appearance, intimacy and loneliness, and the chance for growth and new beginnings.

An 81-year-old bodybuilding champ, divorced since his fifties, imagines someone new by his side; a skydiving widow dulls her loss by pursuing younger men; a grandmother and online-dating addict searches the web for Mr. Right; a romantic 79-year-old discards his portable oxygen for a sunset tango on the beach; a 1940s movie fanatic who escaped an abusive marriage still seeks her ‘Fred and Ginger’ romance.

Faced with feelings “even our own kids never ask about,” each dater’s fearless and candid confessions blend with their preparations for the big day, a rush of five-minute encounters, and the anxious anticipation of receiving their results. Then, as couples set off on first dates, the film exposes the intense and complex feelings that still lurk behind deepening wrinkles and thinning hair.

Playful and revealing, wise and inspiring, the speed daters engage and enlighten with a candor that puts media stereotypes to shame. Just as we’re all destined to age, and the aged were all once young, we suddenly come to realize just how much, and how little, our hearts change over a lifetime.

The film takes viewers where no documentary has gone before — deep into the emotional lives of older singles who still yearn to be seen and understood, to feel the comfort of another's warmth and touch, and who may still be open to a new chance at love.