Low, Colin, 1926-2016 : Colin Low was born in 1926 and raised in Alberta, where his father managed a large cattle ranch. He attended the Calgary Institute of Technology and Art and joined the National Film Board (NFB) in Ottawa in 1945, beginning his career working with Norman McLaren on animated films. After spending a year in Europe learning more about film, Low was named Head of the Animation Department, where he remained until 1963. He directed the Oscar-nominated animated short, 'Romance of Transportation in Canada' (1953), as well as a number of non-animated films including 'Corral' (1954), which was inspired by his childhood on the ranch and won awards at Venice and Edinburgh. Other award-winning films were his 'City of Gold' (1957), about the Klondike gold rush, and 'Circle of the Sun' (1961), about the Blood Indians of Alberta.
In 1967, Low was the director of the Fogo Island project, which produced a number of short films in collaboration with Memorial University on local responses to the Newfoundland government's plans to relocate people in remote communities. The success of the Fogo Island project led to the founding of the NFB's Challenge for Change Unit, which Low was asked to head. As a result of this work, he was invited to work with the American government's Office of Economic Opportunity in developing projects in the United States based on the Canadian model. When Low returned to the NFB, he was made Director of Regional Production, 1976-1979.
In 1960, Low co-directed the film 'Universe', which created an animated picture of the universe as it would appear to a voyager in space, and which was credited with inspiring Stanley Kubrik's '2001: a Space Odyssey'. It marked the beginning of an interest in experimenting with the technical possibilities of film. In 1967, Low worked on the NFB's pavilion at Expo'67, Labyrinth, which featured film images shot from around the world projected onto large multiple screens past which the audience was led in a maze. Labyrinth's director, Roman Kroitor, went on to develop IMAX films with Graeme Ferguson and Robert Kerr, and Low, who remained with the NFB, was brought in on various IMAX projects, including 'Tiger Child' (1970) for the World's Fair in Osaka; 'Weather' (1979), an OMNIMAX film; 'Echoes of the Sun' (1984); 'Transitions' (1986), a 3-D film for the World's Fair in Vancouver; and 'Momentum' (1992) for the World's Fair in Seville. His involvement with IMAX continued with his son Stephen, who formed a company to produce IMAX films in 1986.
Colin Low retired from the National Film Board in 1997 and his final film with the NFB, 'Moving Pictures', was released in 2000. His contributions to the National Film Board and the use of IMAX technology have been widely acknowledged. As well as receiving scores of prizes for his films over the years, he has received many personal awards and honours for his long career in Canadian film, including honorary doctorates from Memorial University and the Universities of Lethbridge and Calgary. He received the Grierson Award from the Canadian Film Awards in 1972, the Prix Albert-Tessier from the Québec government in 1997, and the Abel Gance Award from the Large Format Cinema Association in Los Angeles in 2002, for his work in pioneering large format cinema.
