Colin Archibald Low (July 24, 1926 – February 24, 2016) was a Canadian animation and documentary filmmaker with the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...

(NFB). Colin Low born in

Cardston Cardston is a town in Alberta, Canada. It was first settled in 1887 by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) who travelled from Utah, via the Macleod-Benton Trail, to present-day Alberta in one of the century' ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, Low attended the Banff School of Fine Arts and the Calgary Institute of Technology, now known as the

Southern Alberta Institute of Technology The Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) is a polytechnic institute in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. SAIT offers more than 110 career programs in technology, trades and business. Established in 1916, it is Calgary's second oldest post-se ...

. His NFB career in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

spanned over six decades, on more than 200 productions, most often as director, producer, or executive producer. He died on February 24, 2016 in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

Early work

Low's 1952 animated short, '' The Romance of Transportation in Canada'', won a Short Film Palme d'Or at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

, a special

BAFTA Award The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The cer ...

and was nominated for an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

for Best Short Subject, Cartoons. His 1954 documentary ''

Corral A pen is an enclosure for holding livestock. It may also perhaps be used as a term for an enclosure for other animals such as pets that are unwanted inside the house. The term describes types of enclosures that may confine one or many animal ...

'' received was named best documentary at the

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival he ...

. He followed that with a second documentary shot in southern Alberta, the 1960 film ''

Circle of the Sun A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is const ...

'', which marked the first time the

Kainai Nation The Kainai Nation (or , or Blood Tribe) ( bla, Káínaa) is a First Nations band government in southern Alberta, Canada, with a population of 12,800 members in 2015, up from 11,791 in December 2013. translates directly to 'many chief' (fro ...

's sacred

Sun Dance The Sun Dance is a ceremony practiced by some Native Americans in the United States and Indigenous peoples in Canada, primarily those of the Plains cultures. It usually involves the community gathering together to pray for healing. Individua ...

was filmed.

Influence on Ken Burns

Low received his second Palme d'Or for best short film at the

, along with another BAFTA award and Oscar nomination for his 1957 documentary, '' City of Gold'', on the Klondike Gold Rush, co-directed with

Wolf Koenig Wolf Koenig (October 17, 1927 – June 26, 2014) was a Canadian film director, producer, animator, cinematographer, and a pioneer in Direct Cinema at the National Film Board of Canada. Early life Born in Dresden, Germany, Koenig emigrated to Ca ...

. ''City of Gold'' made use of slow pans and zooms across archival photos and has been cited by Ken Burns as a key inspiration for the so-called

Ken Burns effect The Ken Burns effect is a type of panning and zooming effect used in film and video production from still imagery. The name derives from extensive use of the technique by American documentarian Ken Burns. This technique had also been used to prod ...

Influence on Stanley Kubrick

In 1960, Low and

Roman Kroitor Roman Kroitor (December 12, 1926 – September 17, 2012) was a Canadian filmmaker who was known as an early practitioner of ''cinéma vérité'', as co-founder of IMAX, and as creator of the Sandde hand-drawn stereoscopic animation system. ...

co-directed ''

Universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the universe. ...

'', capturing the attention of Stanley Kubrick, who was preparing to make '' 2001: A Space Odyssey''. Low was invited to work on ''2001: A Space Odyssey'' but had to decline due to his work on '' In the Labyrinth'', a multi-screen production for

Expo 67 The 1967 International and Universal Exposition, commonly known as Expo 67, was a general exhibition from April 27 to October 29, 1967. It was a category One World's Fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is considered to be one of the most su ...

—though some of Low's ideas were incorporated into Kubrick's film.

Challenge for Change

Low worked with the people of

Fogo Island, Newfoundland Fogo Island is a town located on Fogo Island, the largest of the offshore islands in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. History The Town of Fogo Island was incorporated on March 1, 2011 following the amalgamation of four tow ...

to shoot 27 films for the

Challenge for Change Challenge for Change (French: ''Societé Nouvelle'') was a participatory film and video project created by the National Film Board of Canada in 1967, the Canadian Centennial. Active until 1980, Challenge for Change used film and video production t ...

program, using media as a tool to bring about social change and combat poverty.

IMAX

Low was involved in a series of firsts in the wide-screen genre. The experimental multi-screen production '' In the Labyrinth'' helped lead to the creation of the IMAX format. Low co-directed the first IMAX 3D production '' Transitions'' for

Expo 86 The 1986 World Exposition on Transportation and Communication, or simply Expo 86, was a World's Fair held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada from May 2 until October 13, 1986. The fair, the theme of which was "Transportation and Communicatio ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, as well as co-directing '' Momentum'', the first film in 48 frames per second IMAX HD for Expo 92 in

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

Awards

In 1972, he received the Grierson Award at the

Canadian Film Awards The Canadian Film Awards were the leading Canadian cinema awards from 1949 until 1978. These honours were conducted annually, except in 1974 when a number of Quebec directors withdrew their participation and prompted a cancellation. In the 1970s ...

for "an outstanding contribution to Canadian cinema." In 1996, 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 1997, he was given the

Prix Albert-Tessier The Prix Albert-Tessier is an award by the Government of Quebec that is part of the Prix du Québec, given to individuals for an outstanding career in Quebec cinema. It is awarded to script-writing, acting, composing music, directing, producing a ...

, given to individuals for an outstanding career in Québec cinema. He was a member of the

Royal Canadian Academy of Arts The Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA) is a Canadian arts-related organization that was founded in 1880. History 1880 to 1890 The title of Royal Canadian Academy of Arts was received from Queen Victoria on 16 July 1880. The Governor General ...

. In 2002, the Large Format Cinema Association presented Low and the NFB with its Abel Gance Award for outstanding work in large format filmmaking. The

DOXA Documentary Film Festival The DOXA Documentary Film Festival is a documentary film festival based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is held annually held for 10 days in May, and is presented by The Documentary Media Society, a non-profit organization. The festiva ...

's annual

Colin Low Award The Colin Low Award is an annual Canadian film award, presented to honour the best Canadian documentary film screened at that year's DOXA Documentary Film Festival. The award frequently, but not always, presents an honorable mention An award, ...

, presented to honour the best Canadian documentary film in the festival program, was named in Low's honour.

References

External links

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Colin Low
at

Colin Low
films at NFB
Colin Low
''Recollections from a Distinguished Career'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Low, Colin 1926 births 2016 deaths Artists from Alberta Canadian documentary film directors Canadian animators Film directors from Alberta Members of the Order of Canada People from Cardston Canadian experimental filmmakers Canadian cinema pioneers Members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts BAFTA winners (people) Canadian film producers National Film Board of Canada people Canadian documentary film producers Canadian animated film producers Works by Colin Low (filmmaker) Prix Albert-Tessier winners