Canadian short films showcased in-flight, free public screenings in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver

TORONTO, Aug. 1, 2012 /CNW Telbec/ - The Air Canada enRoute Film Festival today announced it will showcase emerging Canadian short film talent on Air Canada flights around the world from Wednesday, August 1 to Monday, December 31.

Millions of Air Canada passengers will be able to view the selected short films on their personal in-seat monitors with touch-screen controls offering hours of digital movies, TV and music entertainment available on-demand at the touch of a finger.

Once again, a star-studded jury will select the winners, who will each receive an all-inclusive trip for two to the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival courtesy of Air Canada. The 20 selected shorts will compete to win prizes for Best Short Film, Achievement in Direction, Achievement in Cinematography and Achievement in Documentary. The grand prize winner will also receive $5,000 courtesy of presenting sponsor Cineplex.

This year's jurors include:

• Jay Baruchel, actor (How to Train Your Dragon, She's Out of My League)
• Niv Fichman, producer (Blindness, Passchendaele)
• Mary Harron, director (American Psycho, I Shot Andy Warhol)
• Alison Pill, actor (Midnight in Paris, The Newsroom)
• Gordon Pinsent, actor (Away From Her, The Shipping News)
• Callum Keith Rennie, actor (The Killing, Memento)
• Saul Rubinek, actor (Barney's Version, Unforgiven)
• Jacob Tierney, director (The Trotsky, Good Neighbours)
• Karine Vanasse, actor (Polytechnique, Pan Am)

New this year, passengers and movie lovers alike will vote for their favourite film to determine the winner of the inaugural People's Choice Award. Voting will run from Thursday, November 1 to Wednesday, November 7 on enRoutefilm.com. The winner will be announced live at the official awards celebration in Toronto on Wednesday, November 7. The winner will receive a flight for two to a North American destination of their choice.

Free public screenings of the top films will take place November 7 at 7pm (EST and PST) at Varsity Theatre (55 Bloor St. W., Toronto), Scotiabank Theatre (900 Burrard St., Vancouver) and Quartier Latin (350 rue Emery, Montreal). The Toronto screening will be followed by an invitation-only awards celebration at Panorama Lounge (55 Bloor Street W., 51^st floor, Toronto).

A revamped festival website will keep film buffs in the loop on all of the selected movies, filmmakers, jury members and more.  Festival fans can join the conversation on Twitter by using #EFF2012, and stay up to date by following the enRoute and Air Canada digital and social media channels. The 2012 festival trailer was created by 2011 Air Canada enRoute Film Festival award winner Miles Jay.

For news on the Air Canada enRoute Film Festival and film profiles:

Website: http://www.enRoutefilm.com
Twitter: @enroutemag and @AirCanada
Facebook: enRoute magazine and Air Canada
Flickr:  rockitpromo (2011 Air Canada enRoute Film Festival images)

About Air Canada's enRoute Magazine:
Air Canada's enRoute Magazine is published by Spafax, one of the world's leading custom publishers and providers of in-flight media, with offices in eight 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 175 destinations on five continents.  Canada's flag carrier is the 15th largest commercial airline in the world and in 2011 served more than 33 million customers.  Air Canada provides scheduled passenger service directly to 59 Canadian cities, 56 destinations in the United States and 63 cities in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, the Caribbean, Mexico and South America. Air Canada is a founding member of Star Alliance, the world's most comprehensive air transportation network serving 1,356 destinations in 193 countries.  Air Canada customers can collect Aeroplan miles for future rewards through Canada's leading loyalty program, and Top Tier members enjoy reciprocal frequent flyer benefits including lounge and priority services.

In 2012, Air Canada was ranked for a third consecutive year Best International Airline in North America in a worldwide survey of more than 18 million airline passengers conducted by independent research firm Skytrax.  In 2011, readers of Global Traveler magazine voted Air Canada "Best Airline in North America," and readers of Business Traveler voted Air Canada "Best North American Airline for International Travel" and "Best In-Flight Services in North America."  In the annual Ipsos Reid Business Traveller Survey, Air Canada was named "Canada's Favourite Airline for Business Travel."  Air Canada was preferred by 73 per cent of Canadian business travellers surveyed for 2011, the third consecutive year of improvement in Air Canada's ratings in the national survey.

SOURCE: AIR CANADA