A380 hosts in-flight premier for 'Living in the Age of Airplanes'
What could be a more fun – and appropriate – venue for the in-flight premiere of a new giant screen film about the ways aviation has changed the world than a brand new A380 aircraft flying a giant loop over Los Angeles?
That's what officials at Emirates Airlines thought when they learned about "Living in the Age of Airplanes," a new National Geographic film by Brian Terwilliger.
The film is narrated by Harrison Ford, with an original score by Academy Award-winning composer James Horner and opens this Friday (April 10) in IMAX, giant screen, digital and other special specialty theaters.
On Monday, Emirates hosted a reception in its new lounge at Tom Bradley International Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport and then invited guests on board one of the carrier's newest double-decker A380 for a special film preview flight over the Los Angeles area.
"It just felt right for us," said Patrick Brannelly, Emirates' Divisional Vice President for Customer Experience (Inflight Entertainment & Connectivity). "The film is really about the romance, the magic and the wonder of flying and that's very much at the heart of our airline."
The 47-minute "Living in the Age of Airplanes," was shot in 95 locations in 18 countries across all 7 continents and starts off with a quick review of transportation history that reminds viewers that "in a single century aviation went from impossible to nearly perfected."
After guests watched the film on the 20-inch seatback monitors in Business Class, filmmaker Brian Terwilliger chatted with reporters. "It's not a movie about airplanes, but how the airplane has changed the world," he said. "We don't know what it's like not to have airplanes, so it's hard to imagine how life would be without them."
Terwilliger is known to aviation enthusiasts for his 2005 high-definition documentary "One Six Right," which told the story of general aviation and the role the local airports.
In his new film he calls airports "portals to the planet," suggests that "If we couldn't fly, we probably wouldn't go," and poses the question "And if we didn't go, how different would our lives be?"