The Legacy of Expo 67

Expo 67 provides inspiration for filmmaking innovations

Looking back over the past half a century, we’ve seen everything from 8-track players to Betamax, fax machines and cell phones the size of bricks. While those technologies may seem like ancient relics, they also pushed us onto bigger, better things.

So, as those of us at SESQUI look ahead to celebrating Canada’s 150th anniversary in 2017, we also looked back at Canada’s centennial celebrations: Expo 67.

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What many people don’t realize is that aside from the Biosphere, Habitat 67 and La Ronde, Expo 67 kick-started major innovations in filmmaking, including IMAX. Perhaps surprisingly, the large-format film medium didn’t get its start in Hollywood, but right here in Canada — and even today the company is headquartered in Toronto.

In fact, the technologies we’re developing for Canada’s 150th birthday — where we’re taking virtual reality to the next level — are inspired by innovations in film technology that took place back in 1967.

Expo 67 was a world exhibition held in Montreal that also served as a focal point for Canada’s centennial celebrations. It was themed “Man and His World,” and artists were encouraged to display their creative genius using various art forms, including large, multiple-screen film experiments.

Among those were Graeme Ferguson’s Polar Life, which was shown in a circular theatre that rotated around a seated audience, and Roman Kroitor’s Labyrinthe, a multi-screen presentation that drew viewers through the different stages of a labyrinth.

These immersive film experiences were so popular that they sparked the development of IMAX. Ferguson and Kroitor, along with Robert Kerr and William Shaw, became the inventors of IMAX, developing a camera system for high-resolution images and enlarged projection aimed at completely immersing an audience in film.

The Fuji Group commissioned them to produce a large-format film for Expo 70 in Osaka, Japan using this new camera system. The result was Tiger Child, the first-ever IMAX film. Shortly afterward, the first permanent IMAX theatre opened its doors at Ontario Place in Toronto.

Today there are more than 930 IMAX theatres in 62 countries, from Washington, D.C. to Jakarta, Indonesia. And IMAX continues to develop new cinema systems, experimenting with the 3D IMAX Solido, IMAX Simulator Rides and IMAX Magic Carpet.

These achievements in film innovation have inspired us to push the limits of digital technology with an interactive touring exhibit featuring 360° cinematic content. Already, our crews are at work around the country shooting immersive content for full-dome resolution and virtual reality with our custom-built camera rigs.

IMAX was conceived from filmmaking innovations at Expo 67 — a celebration of Canada’s 100th birthday. As the sesquicentennial approaches, SESQUI continues in the tradition of innovation, bringing new filmmaking techniques and technologies to the big screen.