Air Canada enRoute Film Festival

The Air Canada enRoute Film Festival is an annual film festival of short films hosted by Air Canada and its in-flight magazine enRoute. Films are shown as in-flight entertainment as well as screened theatrically in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.

Background

The festival began in 2007.^[1] The festival has a different jury each year consisting of film industry professionals including famous actors, writers, directors and producers. The festival's purpose is to generate exposure for emerging filmmakers.

2007

2007 Jury: Atom Egoyan, Piers Handling, Robert Lantos, Donald Sutherland, Denise Robert, Patrick Huard, David La Haye, Torill Kove, Paul Gratton, Geoff Pevere and Hussain Amarshi.^[1]

2007 Award Winners:

• Best Student Film - James Vandewater - Upside-Down Girl
• Achievement in Animation - David Seitz - Forest Frenetic
• Achievement in Direction - Aaron Beckum - Who Wants to be an Amerikan
• Destination Inspiration Award - Carmen Forsberg - Q'oyllur Ritti
• Canadian Reflections Award - Paul St. Amand - Parallels

2008

2008 Jury: Dan Aykroyd, Wendy Crewson, Colm Feore, Arsinée Khanjian, Andrea Martin, Patricia Rozema, Rob Stewart, Yves Simoneau and Noah Cowan.

2008 Award Winners:

• Best Student Film - Jacquelyn Mills - For Wendy
• Achievement in Animation - Eva Cvijanovic - Play
• Achievement in Direction - Brandon Cronenberg and Jonathan Hodgson - Broken Tulips
• Achievement in Cinematography - Benjamin Schuetze - Damian and Ende
• Cineplex People's Choice Award - Sébastien Rist and Sarah Quinn - This Little Piggy

2009

In 2009, the festival opened up submissions to more than just film students, changing the aim of the festival to emerging filmmakers.

2009 jury: Remy Girard, Judy Gladstone, Deepa Mehta, Lisa Ray, and Michael McGowan.

2009 Award Winners:

• Best Short Film - Sarah Fortin for Synthétiseur
• Achievement in Direction - Sarah Fortin for Synthétiseur
• Achievement in Cinematography - Leigh Ann Maynard for A Season to Wither
• Achievement in Animation - Leigh Ann Maynard for A Season to Wither
• Best Documentary- Jake Chirico for The Freshwater Plague

2010

2010 Jury: Alan Cumming, Carlo Rota, Denis Villeneuve, Jason Priestley, Jeremy Podeswa, Kari Skogland, Sheila McCarthy.^[2]

2010 Winners:

• Best Short Film - Adam Shamash - La Khaima - The Tent of Mile-End
• Achievement in Direction - Adam Shamash - La Khaima: The Tent of Mile-End
• Achievement in Cinematography - Shervin Kermani and Aita Jason - Sofia
• Achievement in Animation - King Mugabi - Red Snow

Awards were presented October 13 at the Drake Hotel.^[3]

2011

2011 Jury: Atom Egoyan, Don Carmody, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Molly Parker, Jean-Marc Vallée.^[4]

2011 Winners:

• Best Short Film - Miles Jay and Orlee-Rose Strauss, Blink
• Achievement in Direction - Miles Jay - Blink
• Achievement in Animation - Timothy Chan - A Starry Night A Starry Night
• Achievement in Cinematography - Rhonda's Party

2012

2012 Jury: Jay Baruchel, Niv Fichman, Mary Harron, Alison Pill, Gordon Pinsent, Callum Keith Rennie, Saul Rubinek, Jacob Tierney and Karine Vanasse.^[5][6]

2012 Winners:

• Best Short Film - Fernand-Philippe Morin-Vargas, Noeud papillon
• Achievement in Direction - Alexander Carson, We Refuse to Be Cold
• Achievement in Cinematography - Danielle Sahota and Davina Rimmer, We Blinded the Sun
• Achievement in Documentary - Justin Friesen, Let's Make Lemonade^[7]
• People's Choice Award - Justin Friesen, Let's Make Lemonade^[8]

The 2012 gala was held at the Panorama Lounge in Toronto with Master of Ceremonies Ben Mulroney.^[9] In 2012, the winner of the best film award received a cash prize of $5,000 and a paid trip to the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival.^[5]

2013

2013 Jury: Suzanne Clément, Enrico Colantoni, Wendy Crewson, Sarah Gadon, Evan Goldberg, Martin Katz, Michael McGowan, Chloé Robichaud.^[10]

2013 Winners:

• Best Short Film - Andrew Moir, Just As I Remember
• Achievement in Direction - Sophie Jarvis, The Worst Day Ever
• Achievement in Cinematography - Roman Tchjen and Vaishni Majoomdar, Walk the Moon
• Achievement in Animation - Eileen Peng, Godfather Death

2014

2014 Jury: Don McKellar, Louise Archambault, Jennifer Baichwal, Luc Déry, Michael Fukushima, Guy Maddin, Gia Milani, Andrew Moir, Jennifer Podemski, Laura Vandervoort.^[11]

2014 Winners

• Best Short Film - Yassmina Karajah, David Findlay, Jenna Hambrook and Benjamin Houde-Hostland, Light
• Achievement in Direction - Yassmina Karajah, Light
• Achievement in Cinematography - Alfonso Herrera Salcedo, Les enfants sauvages
• Achievement in Animation - Raquel Sancinetti, Cycle
• Achievement in Documentary - Russell Ratt-Brascoupe, The Hearing
• People's Choice Award - Michaela Kurimsky and Leanna Kruse, Alouette

2015

2015 Jury: Tatiana Maslany, John Galway, François Girard, Sophie Desmarais, Yassmina Karajah, Ron Mann, Ruba Nadda, Catherine O’Hara, Julie Roy and Albert Shin^[12]

2015 Winners

• Best Short Film – Caitlin Durlak, Persistence of Vision
• Achievement in Direction – Kevin Landry, (A)LONE
• Achievement in Cinematography – Haya Waseem and Christopher Lew, Familiar
• Achievement in Animation – Catherine Dubeau, Kaleidoscope
• Achievement in Documentary – Taylor Gordon and Nigil Vazquez, I'm Still Embarrassed
• People’s Choice Award – Kristina Mileska and Andy Kloske, Asteroid

2016

2016 Jury: Patricia Rozema, Jennifer Baichwal, Stephen Dunn, Caitlin Durlak, Sarah Gadon, Chris Landreth, Jason Priestley and Karine Vanasse^[13]

2016 Winners

• Best Short Film – Kevin. T Landry, Robeth
• Achievement in Direction – Emmanuelle Lacombe, Philippe Lefebvre and Charlotte Lacoursière, French Kiss at the Sugar Shack
• Achievement in Cinematography - Trevor Mack and Matthew Taylor Blais, Clouds of Autumn
• Achievement in Animation - Hands on Deck, Feathers
• Achievement in Documentary - Derrick O’Toole, PC Barfoot and Leila Almawy, The Constant Refugee
• People’s Choice Award - Fiona Cleary and Justin MacDonald, Breath of Life

References