Air Canada enRoute Film Festival celebrates 10th Anniversary with Coast-to-Coast Events; Finalists to be announced at Vancouver screening event

2016 jury includes Patricia Rozema, Jason Priestley, Karine Vanasse

TORONTO, June 28, 2016 /CNW Telbec/ - Air Canada enRoute Film Festival revealed that it will showcase emerging Canadian short film talent on Air Canada flights around the world from August 1 to December 31, 2016. The 20 selected shorts will be announced at a free outdoor public screening at Robson Square (800 Robson Street) in downtown Vancouver on Wednesday, July 20 at 8:00 p.m. with the screening starting at sundown. A media and industry cocktail will precede the screening at 7:00 p.m. The coast-to-coast celebrations will then continue in Halifax with a free public screening at the Halifax Central Library (5440 Spring Garden Road) on Tuesday, July 26 at 6:00 p.m. for a media and industry cocktail, and public screening beginning at 7:30 p.m. Both events will be hosted by Liz Trinnear, Etalk reporter and Much host.

The selected short films will be available to millions of Air Canada passengers on their personal seatback in-flight entertainment system and online at enRoutefilm.com. Passengers and movie lovers alike will also have the chance to vote for their favourite film to win the People's Choice Award. Voting will start in August on enRoutefilm.com and run through to October 31, 2016.

"We are really happy to be celebrating the festival's 10^th anniversary by taking it coast-to-coast," said Éric Lauzon, Manager, Multimedia Entertainment at Air Canada. "As the only in-flight film festival in the country it was important for us to hold events in cities across the country from Vancouver to Halifax to further raise awareness of the festival among emerging Canadian filmmakers. We are also very proud of the festival's role in helping to boost the careers of young content creators."

Films will compete for Best Short Film, Achievement in Direction, Achievement in Cinematography, Achievement in Animation, and Achievement in Documentary awards.

A star-studded jury will select the winners, who will receive an all-inclusive trip for two to the Berlin International Film Festival in Germany, courtesy of Air Canada. The Best Short Film winner will also receive $5,000 courtesy of presenting sponsor, Cineplex.

This year's jury, led by Patricia Rozema (director) includes:

• Caitlin Durlak (director and Air Canada enRoute Film Festival Best Short Film Winner 2015)
• Chris Landreth (animator)
• Jason Priestley (actor/director)
• Jennifer Baichwal (director)
• Karine Vanasse (actress)
• Sarah Gadon (actress)
• Stephen Dunn (director and Air Canada enRoute Film Festival alumnus)

Free public screenings will be held in Montreal and Toronto in November. Following the Toronto screening, prizes will be presented at an invitation-only awards celebration.

The Air Canada enRoute Film Festival supporters include Cineplex Entertainment, TELUS Optik Local / STORYHIVE, Sterling Wines, Etalk, Spafax, Entertainment One, Telefilm Canada, Directors Guild of Canada, William F. White International Inc., National Film Board of Canada and Hot Docs.

For news on the festival and film profiles, please visit www.enroutefilm.com.

Twitter: @enRoutemag and @AirCanada #enRouteFilm16
Facebook: enRoute magazine and Air Canada
Instagram: enroutemag and aircanada
Pinterest: enRoute Magazine and AirCanada

About Air Canada's enRoute In-Flight Entertainment:
Air Canada enRoute Inflight Entertainment offers over 600 hours of on-demand entertainment available free of charge at the touch of a finger. Its gate-to-gate in-flight entertainment programming features up to 150 movies in all genres, including the latest Hollywood and independent titles produced locally and internationally in more than 20 languages, up to 200 TV shows including the most popular TV series, interesting documentaries and our very own ACTV channel, over 100 albums and playlists in all musical genres and entertaining and informative audio books and podcasts. Air Canada enRoute In-Flight Entertainment is programmed by Spafax, one of the world's leading custom publishers and providers of in-flight media, with offices in fourteen cities around the world. Spafax is a part of the specialist communications division of WPP. http://enroute.aircanada.com/

About Air Canada:
Air Canada is Canada's largest domestic and international airline serving more than 200 airports on six continents.  Canada's flag carrier is among the 20 largest airlines in the world and in 2015 served more than 41 million customers.  Air Canada provides scheduled passenger service directly to 63 airports in Canada, 56 in the United States and 86 in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Australia, the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America and South America. Air Canada is a founding member of Star Alliance, the world's most comprehensive air transportation network serving 1,330 airports in 192 countries.  Air Canada rewards its most loyal customers through its top tier recognition program, Altitude, that offers frequent flyers a range of priority travel services, lounge access and upgrades to Executive Class, complementing their membership in Aeroplan, Canada's premier loyalty program, which provides numerous ways to earn and redeem Aeroplan Miles with over 150 travel and retail partners.

Air Canada is the only international network carrier in North America to receive a Four-Star ranking according to independent U.K. research firm Skytrax.  According to the 2015 Canadian Business Travel Survey conducted by Ipsos Reid, Air Canada was the preferred airline for more than 80 percent of frequent business travellers in Canada.  In 2014, readers of Global Traveler magazine again voted Air Canada "Best Airline in North America," the readers of Business Traveler voted Air Canada "Best North American Airline for International Travel" and "Best North America Airline Inflight Experience," and the readers of Premier Traveler voted Air Canada "Best Flight Attendants in North America."  For more information on Air Canada visit aircanada.com, follow @AirCanada on Twitter and join Air Canada on Facebook.

SOURCE Air Canada

For interview requests or high-res photography, please contact: Vida Schultz, Account Director, Spafax, [email protected], 416-350-2453; Phil Birnbaum, Publicist, Spafax, [email protected], 647-789-7297; Isabelle Arthur, Manager, Media Relations, Air Canada Foundation, [email protected], 514.422.5788