Virgin America Is Cast As The Official Domestic Airline Of The 2012 Los Angeles Film Festival

SAN FRANCISCO, June 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Virgin America, the only California-based airline, today announces it is Premier Sponsor and Official Domestic Airline of the 2012 Los Angeles Film Festival, which includes a variety of fan and flyer promotions as well as festival branding, online and print advertising as part of the partnership. With an unrivalled entertainment platform and a vast in-flight content library of more than 25 indie, foreign language and latest release films at every seat, Virgin America has quickly become the airline of choice for film lovers across North America. As part of its title sponsorship, Virgin America will help this year's festival goers  - filmmakers, writers and actors – arrive entertained and in style into Los Angeles for what promises to be the most exciting, star-studded LA Film Fest.  This year, Virgin America –- in partnership with Virgin Produced (the entertainment arm of the Virgin Group), Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Australia, also teamed up to create an independent short film, Departure Date, shot in 20 hours, across three continents and on three commercial flights on all three airlines while at 35,000 feet – a first for a short film.  An exclusive screening of the film took place at Regal Cinemas L.A. LIVE Stadium 14 on Monday night, as part of the official kick-off of Film Independent's 2012 Los Angeles Film Festival – hosted by the three Virgin airlines, Virgin Produced, LA Film Fest, and AEG. To view the trailer and behind-the-scenes footage from the filming in-flight, visit: www.flyvirgin.com/#film.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090123/VIRGINAMERICALOGO)

"Virgin America is all about bringing entertainment and fun back to the skies and we are thrilled to partner with the world-renowned Los Angeles Film Festival," said Vice President of Marketing, Luanne Calvert. "And movie buffs flying onboard Virgin America can find everything from the latest Hollywood blockbusters to Oscar favorites to indie and foreign films on-demand on our seat-back entertainment system."  

Virgin America offers beautifully designed mood–lit cabins, standard power outlets near every seat and Red™ — the largest and most advanced personal touch–screen entertainment platform in the skies. The Red platform offers 700+ hours of entertainment content with a special focus on film and music, in keeping with the Virgin brand's roots. The Red system offers every Virgin America guest more than 25 on-demand films, live and premium TV, as well as curated and diverse content from partners like Virgin Produced, Ted Talks, Revision3 and BoingBoing – with films produced by emerging or established documentary filmmakers are featured. Red also houses a 3,000 MP3 library (with the ability for travelers to build their own playlist), a Kids' entertainment platform (with parental controls), videogames, music videos, interactive Google Maps that track a flight's journey, a seat-to-seat text chat system and more. 

Departure Date was written and directed by award-winning writer and director Kat Coiro (L!fe Happens, While We Were Here and A Case of You) and stars Ben Feldman (Mad Men), Nicky Whelan (Hall Pass), Philip Baker Hall, Luis Guzman, Janeane Garofalo and Max Brown. The scenes were shot in Virgin America's First Class, Main Cabin Select and Main Cabins, Virgin Atlantic's Upper Class cabin, Economy cabin and Onboard Bar and Virgin Australia's International Business cabin which featured the sit-down bar, Ladies-Only bathroom and exclusive Row Five. A public screening of the film and an opportunity to hear from director, Kat Coiro, and cinematographer, Doug Chamberlain, takes place on Sunday, June 17, at 12:00 p.m. Tickets to the "In the Air and On the Go: Pioneering Filmmaking" screening and chat session are available at: www.lafilmfest.com.

"We're very pleased to continue our partnership with Virgin America for the second year," stated Stephanie Allain, Los Angeles Film Festival Director. "Virgin America shares our passion for shining a spotlight on emerging filmmakers and we look forward to finding new and exciting ways to collaborate together for years to come."

In May, all three award-winning Virgin airlines joined forces for the first time ever to launch a joint entertainment, digital and out-of-home advertising campaign to convey the unique Virgin in-flight experience in the Los Angeles market and mark the airlines' global frequent flyer partnership.  Known around the world for their stylish, entertainment-driven flying experiences, the three airlines unveiled the joint advertising campaign and website at www.flyvirgin.com, which highlights the Virgin airlines' innovative approach to travel.

Returning to downtown Los Angeles and headquartered at L.A. LIVE for a third year, the Festival will run from Thursday, June 14 to Sunday, June 24. Now in its eighteenth year, the Festival is widely recognized as a world-class event, showcasing the best in new American and international cinema, and is produced by Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that also produces the Spirit Awards.

Since its 2007 launch, Virgin America has gained a loyal following of business and leisure flyers and has swept the major reader-based travel awards, including "Best Domestic Airline" in both Conde Nast Traveler's Readers' Choice Awards and Travel + Leisure's World's Best Awards. For more on Virgin America, visit: www.virginamerica.com. Virgin America flies to San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Washington D.C., Seattle, Las Vegas, San Diego, Boston, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Dallas–Fort Worth, Los Cabos, Cancun, Chicago, Puerto Vallarta, Palm Springs, Philadelphia and Portland.

About Virgin America: Headquartered in California, Virgin America offers guests attractive fares and a host of innovative features aimed at reinventing air travel. In just over four years flying, Virgin America was named "Best Domestic Airline" in the Conde Nast Traveler 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 'Readers' Choice' Awards and "Best Domestic Airline" in Travel + Leisure's 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 'World's Best' Awards. The airline's base of operations is San Francisco International Airport (SFO)'s sleek and sustainable new Terminal 2. The airline's new aircraft offer interactive in–flight entertainment systems and power outlets near every seat. Virgin America offers Gogo™ WiFi on every flight and hosts the largest in–flight entertainment library in the North American skies via the touch–screen Red™ platform. For more: www.virginamerica.com.

SOURCE Virgin America