SWISS will be supplementing the inflight entertainment on its long-haul services with its fifth Flying Film Festival from the beginning of December 2023 to the end of January 2024. The latest edition of the only film festival to be held exclusively aloft will feature 14 entertaining short films by filmmakers from all over the globe. The two best films will earn an award; and a podcast will also offer illuminating insights into the festival event.

Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) will be staging the fifth edition of its Flying Film Festival aboard its long-haul services between 1 December 2023 and 31 January 2024. The festival, which was established in 2015 together with filmmakers Francesca Scalisi and Mark Olexa, is focused on short documentary and animated films. The festival supplements SWISS’s regular inflight entertainment programme, and is intended to spotlight young and talented directors from all over the world and present their work to a broader audience. It is the only film festival in the world to be held exclusively in the air.

Special awards for the two best films

This year’s Flying Film Festival will offer an intriguing selection of 14 short films from Belgium, Canada, China, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the USA. The works include ‘Beautiful Figures’, a Swiss-Belgian co-production that earned the Flying Anidoc Award at Switzerland’s Fantoche animated film festival. Two awards – the ‘Golden Wings’ and the ‘Silver Wings’ – will also be bestowed by an independent judging panel at the end of the Flying Film Festival.

This year’s Flying Film Festival will feature an innovation, too: a special ‘Movies for Airplanes’ podcast offering illuminating insights into the festival itself. The podcast will be available on various streaming platforms.

The festival programme

Detailed information (including trailers) on the fifth Flying Film Festival will be found at http://www.swiss-inflightentertainment.com or www.flyingfilmfestival.com.

The 14 films selected for this year’s Flying Film Festival are: Beautiful Figures by Soetkin Verstegen, Bgirl Badli by Charlotte De Cort, Champ by Cassandra Offenberg, Discussions animées entre entendeurs de voix by Tristan Thil, Everything wrong and nowhere to go by Sindha Agha, Fino alla fine (Till the end) by Beatrice Perego, Kajanaqtuq by Ella Morton, Love, Dad by Diana Cam Van Nguyen, Men of Salt by Luis Armando Sosa Gil, Notes sur la mémoire et l’oubli by Amélie Hardy, Oasis by Justine Martin, Violet Gave Willingly by Claire Sanford, Will you look at me by Shuli Huang and Ympyrän neliöimisestä (Square the circle) by Hanna Hovitie.