DOXA program | thu may 23

THE OBSERVER AND THE OBSERVED - The NFB from wartime propaganda to post-war education
Presented by guest curator Colin Low

Prolific Canadian filmmaker Colin Low explores distinct roles of documentary film through the lenses of social change, cultural transformation, and the technology, art and globalization of media.

Low's earlier optimism and enthusiasm are now tempered by a growing concern about the symbiotic dependency between mass media, violence and war. But, encouraged by the burgeoning grassroots resistance to "media overkill," he does see some hope for the growth of a new equilibrium between the tribal, technical chaos of resource warfare and the planetary support of human rights and equity. Too often media seem to be part of the problem; now they must also contribute more wisely to solutions.

Colin Low will use excerpts from these Canadian films to illustrate his ideas:

City of Gold
Directors: Colin Low & Wolf Koenig (Canada, 1957)

A film that explores the early use of still photographs to record the Yukon Gold Rush - demonstrating pictorial media's influence on the event itself.

Universe
Directors: Roman Kroitor & Colin Low (Canada, 1960)

Universe and special effects influence the Cold War and become a part of the space race with its cultural and technical transformation based on the computer.

In the Labyrinth
Directors: Roman Kroitor, Colin Low & Hugh O'Connor (Canada, 1979)

A look at television, cinema verite and experimental cinema as resistance to standardization and entertainment.

Challenge for Change Program
(Canada, 1966 - 1975)

Showing brief excerpts of films from the NFB's Challenge for Change video series, Low looks at the democratization of media, communication loops and sustained community television. As well, a look at the NFB'S Fogo Island project, Native programming and other innovative initiatives.

Moving Pictures
Director: Colin Low (Canada, 2000)

Low critiques his most recent film, Moving Pictures, in light of the events of September 11 and the threat of global war, addressing the problem of instantaneous topicality versus perspective.

Pas de Deux
Director: Norman McLaren (Canada, 1967)

A discussion of the significance of John Grierson and Norman McLaren and film as art, experimentation and social change.

Curator / Filmmaker Colin Low will be in attendance.

"And 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 by Low at Directors Guild of America in honour of the NFB's 50th anniversary, December 8, 1988, Los Angeles, California)

Colin Low was born in 1926 in Cardston Alberta and raised on a ranch. After attending the Banff School of Fine Arts and the Calgary Institute of Technology, he joined the NFB in 1945 through a summer training program set up by Norman McLaren in an effort to create a Canadian animation facility.

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), called "brilliant", "rare", "faultless" and "poetic" by international critics, garnered 17 awards.

Low seemed to approach each new film as an opportunity for technical and aesthetic experimentation. 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 using 35mm and 70mm film projected simultaneously on multiple screens, considered the precursor of today's IMAX and OMNIMAX formats.

After this international success, Low worked with Memorial University of 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.

Low has collaborated on close to 200 productions to date, as director, co-director, producer or co-producer. A member of the Royal Canadian Academy, this veteran Canadian filmmaker has won over a hundred awards for his films, as well as several honourary degrees and other honours.

Throughout his career, Low has been a tireless innovator, pioneering new techniques and producing quality films. In a ceremony in Ottawa in February, 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 the first anglophone to be 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

previous program | next program

Graphic Design by Jacqueline Verkley. Web Design + Graphics Adaptation by Terra Poirier › lineargirl media