"There is a Canadian culture. Some people see it as a grey reflection of the U.S. I see it now as a culture of Northern survival, with an affirmation of the virtue of frugality. Frugal in this sense does not mean poor; it can mean appropriate." (Address delivered by Low at the Directors Guild of America screening in honour of the NFB's 50th anniversary, December 8, 1988, Los Angeles, California).

Colin Low was raised on a ranch in Western Canada. After attending the Banff School of Fine Arts and the Calgary Institute of Technology, he joined the National Film Board in 1945 through a summer training program set up by Norman McLaren in an effort to create a Canadian animation facility. Low started out as a graphic artist hand-lettering titles.
In 1948, he went to study in Stockholm and on his return created two important animation sequences for the documentary The Fight: Science Against Cancer. In 1949, Low was recognized as a filmmaker and, in 1950, was appointed Head of the Animation Unit, where he produced and directed some of the NFB's most popular films, including the award-winning short The Romance of Transportation in Canada (1953).

Despite his success as an animator, Low decided to try his hand at documentary, producing and directing the classic short Corral (1954). Shot without the narration and voice-over characteristic of NFB films at that time, it won numerous awards, including first prize at the Venice Film Festival. His next film, City of Gold (1957), was hailed by international critics as "brilliant", "rare", "faultless" and "poetic" and garnered 17 awards.
Low approached each new film as an opportunity for technical and aesthetic experimentation. In 1960, he teamed up with Roman Kroitor to co-direct Universe, an exploration of outer space with animation so realistic that Stanley Kubrick wanted to hire the NFB Animation Studio to help with the special effects for 2001: A Space Odyssey.

During the 1960s, Low helped develop revolutionary film formats that are now legends in the film industry. For Expo 67, he co-directed In the Labyrinth, a film that used 35mm and 70mm film projected simultaneously on multiple screens, and which is considered the precursor of today's IMAX and OMNIMAX formats.
After this international success, Low worked with Memorial University in Newfoundland on the Challenge for Change/Société nouvelle program, a new approach to community development whereby the people and the problems of a community would be filmed in depth and the results played back to them for discussion and criticism. The Fogo Island films were heralded as a major advance in the use of film as a social instrument.
In 1972, Low was appointed Executive Producer of Studio C, and over the next three years he oversaw the production of more than a hundred documentaries.
In 1976, he became Director of Regional Production, heading a new unit of five production offices in the different regions of Canada.

Through his interest in future technology, Low became something of a cinematic visionary whose films often broke new ground. In 1979, he co-produced Atmos, an OMNIMAX production requiring a number of innovations by NFB researchers.
Low had long dreamed of taking IMAX into the realm of 3-D and got his chance in 1983 when he started working on the film Transitions for Expo 86 in Vancouver.
In 1985, the Japanese asked Low to advise them on 3-D and animation for the film Born of Stars to be screened at the Tsukuba World's Fair in Japan.
Low next made Emergency/Urgence (1985), an IMAX film highlighting the latest advances in cardiology and neurology for the Expotec Theatre in Montreal.
In 1989, he began work on the IMAX/OMNIMAX film The First Emperor of China, budgeted at $6.8 million and co-produced by the NFB, China's Xi'an Film Studio and the Canadian Museum of Civilization.
The Seville World's Fair in 1992 also screened a film co-directed by Low. Momentum, created by the team of Low, Tony Ianzelo and Ernest McNabb (director of photography), was another pioneering effort since it was the first film to be made in IMAX HD (shot at 48 frames per second). In 1996, Making Momentum was released, detailing how the film was made.

Low's last documentary for the NFB, Moving Pictures (2000), is a rich, multi-layered documentary, combining the horrors of war, the art of producing pictures, the autobiography of a master filmmaker and the parallels between the mass production of weapons and today's violent media images.
Low has collaborated on close to 200 productions to date, most often as director, co-director, producer or co-producer. Much of his research since the mid-1960s has had to do with giant screen filmmaking. A member of the Royal Canadian Academy, this veteran Canadian filmmaker has won over 100 awards for his films, as well as several honorary degrees and other honours.

Throughout his career, Low has been a tireless innovator, always seeking new ways of doing things, pioneering new techniques and producing quality films, and his enthusiasm for the cinema has not flagged in the 50 years he has been with the NFB. Ever eager to take on new challenges, currently Low is experimenting with new techniques in the field of 3-D IMAX HD.
In a ceremony in Ottawa on February 15, 1996, Colin Low was made a Member of the Order of Canada in recognition of his extraordinary contributions to cinema in Canada and around the world.
In December 1997, Low was honoured with the Quebec government prestigious Prix Albert-Tessier, one of the Prix du Québec. The honour was given in recognition of Low's lifetime contribution to Canadian filmmaking.
You can find more details on the films directed by Colin Low in the Film Collection.

Bibliography

Articles by Colin Low

• "Colin Low Sees Future for the NFB and the Documentary", Cinema Canada, No. 165, Montreal, July/August 1989, p. 34.
• "Docu-drama uses IMAX 35-mm film", The Evening Telegram, April 15, 1988.
• "Large-Screen 3-D: Aesthetic and Technical Considerations", SMPTE Journal, No. 93, January 1984, p. 14-17.

Articles about Colin Low

• Harcourt, Peter, "The Innocent Eye", Sight and Sound, Vol. 34, No. 1, winter 1964/65, p. 19-22 (reprinted in
• Feldman/Nelson, Canadian Film Reader, pp. 67-77).

See also French bibliographic references in Low's biography in French.