Roman Kroitor
Encyclopedia
Roman Kroitor is a Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 filmmaker who is known as an early practitioner of Cinéma vérité
Cinéma vérité
Cinéma vérité is a style of documentary filmmaking, combining naturalistic techniques with stylized cinematic devices of editing and camerawork, staged set-ups, and the use of the camera to provoke subjects. It is also known for taking a provocative stance toward its topics.There are subtle yet...

, as co-founder of IMAX
IMAX
IMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of proprietary cinema projection standards created by the Canadian company IMAX Corporation. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...

, and as creator of the Sandde
Sandde
SANDDE is a software and hardware system, developed primarily by IMAX Corporation, designed to create hand-drawn, stereoscopic 3D animation content. SANDDE is an acronym for "Stereoscopic ANimation Drawing DEvice" and is a play on the Japanese term for "3D", which is pronounced "San-D".The concept...

 hand-drawn stereoscopic animation system. He is also the original inspiration for the Force
Force
In physics, a force is any influence that causes an object to undergo a change in speed, a change in direction, or a change in shape. In other words, a force is that which can cause an object with mass to change its velocity , i.e., to accelerate, or which can cause a flexible object to deform...

, popularized in the Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...

 series.

He studied philosophy and psychology at the University of Manitoba
University of Manitoba
The University of Manitoba , in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, is the largest university in the province of Manitoba. It is Manitoba's most comprehensive and only research-intensive post-secondary educational institution. It was founded in 1877, making it Western Canada’s first university. It placed...

 and then worked for the National Film Board of Canada
National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada is Canada's twelve-time Academy Award-winning public film producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary, animation, alternative drama and digital media productions...

, first as a production assistant and then as a film editor. He directed his first film, Rescue Party in 1949.

Early Influence of the Cinéma vérité Style

Between 1958 and 1961 Kroitor co-directed, with Wolf Koenig
Wolf Koenig
Wolf Koenig is a Canadian film director, producer, animator, cinematographer, and a pioneer in Direct Cinema at the NFB.-Early life:...

, the Candid Eye direct cinema
Direct Cinema
Direct Cinema is a documentary genre that originated between 1958 and 1962 in North America, principally in the Canadian province of Quebec and the United States...

 documentary series for the National Film Board. One of those films became the highly influential Cinéma vérité
Cinéma vérité
Cinéma vérité is a style of documentary filmmaking, combining naturalistic techniques with stylized cinematic devices of editing and camerawork, staged set-ups, and the use of the camera to provoke subjects. It is also known for taking a provocative stance toward its topics.There are subtle yet...

-style documentary about singer Paul Anka
Paul Anka
Paul Albert Anka, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and actor.Anka first became famous as a teen idol in the late 1950s and 1960s with hit songs like "Diana'", "Lonely Boy", and "Put Your Head on My Shoulder"...

: Lonely Boy
Lonely Boy (film)
Lonely Boy is a 1962 cinema verite documentary about former teen sensation Paul Anka. The film takes its name from Anka's hit song, Lonely Boy, which he performs to screaming fans in the film...

. This film's use of portable film and sound gear, with lack of a narration voice-over, would influence later documentaries like D.A. Pennebaker's Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...

 1967 feature Dont Look Back
Dont Look Back
Dont Look Back is a 1967 documentary film by D.A. Pennebaker that covers Bob Dylan's 1965 concert tour in the United Kingdom.In 1998, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically...

. Lonely Boy was one of the earliest examples of a rockumentary
Rockumentary
The term rockumentary is a neologism denoting a documentary about rock music or its musicians. The term was used by Bill Drake in the 1969 History of Rock & Roll radio broadcast, and by Rob Reiner in the 1984 mockumentary film This Is Spinal Tap....

 and was parodied in the comedy This is Spinal Tap
This Is Spinal Tap
This Is Spinal Tap is an American 1984 rock musical mockumentary directed by Rob Reiner about the fictional heavy metal band Spinal Tap...

.

Other notable films that Kroitor directed or co-directed in the Cinema Verite style included Glenn Gould
Glenn Gould
Glenn Herbert Gould was a Canadian pianist who became one of the best-known and most celebrated classical pianists of the 20th century. He was particularly renowned as an interpreter of the keyboard music of Johann Sebastian Bach...

:On the Record, Glenn Gould
Glenn Gould
Glenn Herbert Gould was a Canadian pianist who became one of the best-known and most celebrated classical pianists of the 20th century. He was particularly renowned as an interpreter of the keyboard music of Johann Sebastian Bach...

:Off the Record, Stravinsky, among many others.

Founder of IMAX

He exhibited a large-scale multi-screen work, Labyrinth
In the Labyrinth
In the Labyrinth was a groundbreaking multi-screen presentation at Expo 67 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It used 35mm and 70mm film projected simultaneously on multiple screens and was the precursor of today's IMAX format.The film split elements across the five screens and also combined them for a...

, at Expo 67
Expo 67
The 1967 International and Universal Exposition or Expo 67, as it was commonly known, was the general exhibition, Category One World's Fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, from April 27 to October 29, 1967. It is considered to be the most successful World's Fair of the 20th century, with the...

 in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

. In the same year he co-founded the Multiscreen Corporation, which later became the IMAX Corporation
IMAX Corporation
IMAX Corporation is a Canadian theatre company which designs and manufactures IMAX cameras and projection systems as well as film development, production, post production and distribution to IMAX affiliated theatres worldwide. It was founded in 1968 as a result of Expo 67 in Montreal...

. The Multivision process was developed for the Osaka
Osaka
is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...

 Expo '70
Expo '70
was a World's Fair held in Suita, Osaka, Japan between March 15 and September 13, 1970. The theme of the Expo was "Progress and Harmony for Mankind." In Japanese Expo '70 is often referred to as Ōsaka Banpaku...

 and involved 70mm film projected horizontally rather than vertically. Each frame was as large as a postcard, with 15 sprocket-holes.

He produced the first IMAX film, Tiger Child
Tiger Child
Tiger Child was the first IMAX movie ever made. It was directed by Canadian filmmaker Donald Brittain and produced by Roman Kroitor and Kichi Ichikawa. It premiered at Expo '70 in Osaka, Japan at the Fuji Group Pavilion....

in 1970 (dir. Donald Brittain
Donald Brittain
Donald Brittain, O.C. was a film director and producer with the National Film Board of Canada.Fields of Sacrifice is considered Brittain's first major film as director....

), and in 1990 he co-directed the first IMAX feature film, Rolling Stones: At the Max. He also produced the first IMAX
IMAX
IMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of proprietary cinema projection standards created by the Canadian company IMAX Corporation. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...

 stereoscopic (S3D) film, We Are Born of Stars, anaglyph, 1985, and co-produced the first full-color OMNIMAX
Omnimax
Omnimax may refer to:* A variation of the IMAX film format that is projected on an angled dome* A shorthand expression for a deity that is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and/or omnibenevolent...

 (IMAX Dome) S3D film, Echoes of the Sun, alternate-eye, 1990.

Creator of Hand-drawn Stereoscopic Animation

While working to create traditional (actuality) and early CG films in a stereoscopic format, Kroitor became frustrated due to the lack of direct interaction between the desires of the (right-brained) artists and the results on film, because at the time everything had to passed through the (left-brained) mathematicians and programmers. He conceived of Sandde
Sandde
SANDDE is a software and hardware system, developed primarily by IMAX Corporation, designed to create hand-drawn, stereoscopic 3D animation content. SANDDE is an acronym for "Stereoscopic ANimation Drawing DEvice" and is a play on the Japanese term for "3D", which is pronounced "San-D".The concept...

 as a way to allow the artists to directly draw, in full stereoscopic 3D, what they wanted the audience to see.

Originator of "The Force"

Roman Kroitor was credited by George Lucas, creator of the Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...

 films, as being the origin of the concept of The Force
Force (Star Wars)
The Force is a binding, metaphysical and ubiquitous power in the fictional universe of the Star Wars galaxy created by George Lucas. Mentioned in the first film in the series, it is integral to all subsequent incarnations of Star Wars, including the expanded universe of comic books, novels, and...

, an important thematic element tying together all the Star Wars films. "One of the audio sources Lipsett
Arthur Lipsett
Arthur Lipsett was a Canadian avant-garde director of short experimental films.In the 1960s he was employed as an animator by the National Film Board of Canada . Lipsett's particular passion was sound. He collected pieces of sound from a variety of sources and fit them together to create an...

 sampled for 21-87
21-87
21-87 is a 1963 Canadian abstract film created by Arthur Lipsett that lasts 9 minutes and 33 seconds.The short film, produced by the National Film Board of Canada, is a collage of snippets from discarded footage found by Lipsett in the editing room of the National Film Board , combined with his own...

 [a film that had a great influence on Lucas] was a conversation between artificial intelligence pioneer Warren S. McCulloch and Roman Kroitor , a cinematographer who went on to develop IMAX. In the face of McCulloch's arguments that living beings are nothing but highly complex machines, Kroitor insists that there is something more: 'Many people feel that in the contemplation of nature and in communication with other living things, they become aware of some kind of force, or something, behind this apparent mask which we see in front of us, and they call it God.'"

"When asked if this was the source of 'the Force,' Lucas confirms that his use of the term in Star Wars was 'an echo of that phrase in 21-87.'"

Awards

  • BAFTA: Universe (Best Animated Film, 1961).
  • Canadian Film Award
    Canadian Film Award
    The Canadian Film Awards were the leading Canadian cinema awards from 1949 until 1978. These honours were conducted annually except in 1974 when Quebec directors withdrew their participation and prompted a cancellation that year....

    s: Universe (Film of the Year and Special Mention, 1961); Lonely Boy (Film of the Year and Best General Information Film, 1962); Above the Horizon (Best Children’s Film, 1964); Stravinsky (Best TV Information film, 1965).
  • Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film
    Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film
    This name for the Academy Award for Live Action Short Film was introduced in 1974. For the three preceding years it was known as "Short Subjects, Live Action Films." The term "Short Subjects, Live Action Subjects" was used from 1957 until 1970. From 1936 until 1956 there were two separate...

     nomination: - Bravery in the Field (1979)

Filmography

  • Age of the Beaver, 1952 (editor)
  • Rescue Party, 1952 (director)
  • Paul Tomkowinkz: Street-railway Switchman, Faces of Canada/Snowscapes series, 1952 (director; co-writer with Stanley Jackson; co-editor and co-producer with Tom Daly)
  • Farm Calendar, 1955 (director; writer)
  • To Serve the Mind, Documentary Showcase/Mental Health series, 1955 (co-writer with Stanley Jackson)
  • Introducing Canada, 1956 (co-editor with Tom Daly)
  • L’Année B la ferme, 1957 (director; writer)
  • City of Gold
    City of Gold (documentary)
    City of Gold is a 1957 Canadian documentary film by Colin Low and Wolf Koenig, chronicling Dawson City during the Klondike Gold Rush. The film is narrated by Pierre Berton and produced by the National Film Board of Canada.-Technique:...

    , Documentary Showcase series, 1957 (co-writer with Pierre Berton, Robert Choquette)
  • The Great Plains, Canadian Geography series, 1956 (director; editor)
  • It's a Crime, Documentary Showcase/Snowscapes series, 1957 (writer)
  • Blood and Fire, Candid Eye series, 1958 (co-producer with Wolf Koenig)
  • Country Threshing, Candid Eye series, 1958 (co-producer with Wolf Koenig)
  • The Days Before Christmas, Candid Eye series, 1958 (co-editor with René Laporte, Wolf Koenig; co-producer with Wolf Koenig)
  • A Foreign Language, Candid Eye series, 1958 (co-producer with Wolf Koenig)
  • Memory of Summer, Candid Eye series, 1958 (co-producer with Wolf Koenig)
  • Pilgrimage, Candid Eye series, 1958 (co-producer with Wolf Koenig)
  • Police, Candid Eye series, 1958 (co-producer with Wolf Koenig)
  • The Back-breaking Leaf, Candid Eye/Documentary 60 series, 1959 (co-producer with Wolf Koenig)
  • La Battaison, 1959 (co-producer with Wolf Koenig)
  • The Canadians, 1959 (executive producer)
  • Emergency Ward, Candid Eye/Documentary 60 series, 1959 (co-producer with Wolf Koenig)
  • End of the Line, Candid Eye/Documentary 60 series, 1959 (co-producer with Wolf Koenig)
  • Glenn Gould – Off the Record, Candid Eye/Documentary 60 series, 1959 (co-director and co-producer with Wolf Koenig)
  • Glenn Gould – On the Record, Candid Eye/Documentary 60 series, 1959 (co-director and co-producer with Wolf Koenig)
  • The Cars in Your Life, Candid Eye/Documentary 60 series, 1960 (co-producer with Wolf Koenig) a.k.a. a Down and 24 Months to Pay
  • I Was a Ninety-pound Weakling, Documentary 60 series, 1960 (co-producer with Wolf Koenig)
  • Universe, 1960 (co-director with Colin Low
    Colin Low (filmmaker)
    Colin Archibald Low, CM, RCA is a Canadian animation and documentary filmmaker.Born in Cardston, Alberta, Low attended the Banff School of Fine Arts and the Calgary Institute of Technology, now known as the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology...

    ; writer)
  • The Days of Whiskey Gap, 1961 (co-producer with Wolf Koenig)
  • Festival in Puerto Rico, Candid Eye series, 1961 (co-director and co-editor with Wolf Koenig; producer)
  • Lonely Boy
    Lonely Boy (film)
    Lonely Boy is a 1962 cinema verite documentary about former teen sensation Paul Anka. The film takes its name from Anka's hit song, Lonely Boy, which he performs to screaming fans in the film...

    , 1961 (co-director with Wolf Koenig; producer)
  • University, Explorations series, 1961 (co-producer with Wolf Koenig)
  • The Living Machine, Explorations series, 1961 (director; co-producer with Tom Daly)
  • Above the Horizon, 1964 (co-director with Hugh O’Connor; co-producer with Hugh O’Connor, Tom Daly)
  • Canadian Businessmen, 1964 (co-director with Wolf Koenig)
  • The Hutterites, 1964 (co-producer with Tom Daly)
  • Legault’s Place, 1964 (co-producer with Tom Daly)
  • Nobody Waved Goodbye
    Nobody Waved Goodbye
    Nobody Waved Good-bye is a 1964 black-and-white National Film Board of Canada production directed by Don Owen, starring Peter Kastner, Julie Biggs and Claude Rae. It was followed twenty years later by a sequel, Unfinished Business, with the same director and two lead actors.-Awards:Despite the...

    , 1964 (co-producer with Donald Owen)
  • Toronto Jazz, 1964 (producer)
  • The Baymen, NFB Presents series, 1965 (co-producer with Peter Jones)
  • Stravinsky, 1965 (co-director with Wolf Koenig; producer)
  • Two Men of Montreal, 1965 (co-producer with Donald Brittain, John Kemeny, Tom Daly)
  • Little White Crimes, NFB Presents series, 1966 (co-producer with John Kemeny)
  • In the Labyrinth
    In the Labyrinth
    In the Labyrinth was a groundbreaking multi-screen presentation at Expo 67 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It used 35mm and 70mm film projected simultaneously on multiple screens and was the precursor of today's IMAX format.The film split elements across the five screens and also combined them for a...

    , 1967 (co-director with Colin Low, Hugh O’Connor; co-producer with Tom Daly)
  • IBM Close-up, 1968 (co-director with Graeme Ferguson; producer)
  • Tiger Child
    Tiger Child
    Tiger Child was the first IMAX movie ever made. It was directed by Canadian filmmaker Donald Brittain and produced by Roman Kroitor and Kichi Ichikawa. It premiered at Expo '70 in Osaka, Japan at the Fuji Group Pavilion....

    , 1970 (co-producer with Iichi Ichikawa; writer; IMAX)
  • Code Name Running Jump, 1972 (director; producer)
  • Exercise Running Jump II, 1972 (director; writer; producer)
  • Circus World, 1974 (director; co-editor with Jackie Newell; producer)
  • Man Belongs to the Earth, 1974 (co-producer with Graeme Ferguson)
  • Man the Hunter [Caribou], Man the Hunter series, 1974 (executive producer)
  • Propaganda Message, 1974 (co-producer with Wolf Koenig)
  • Man the Hunter [Fishing], Man the Hunter series, 1975 (executive producer)
  • Man the Hunter [Seal Hunting], Man the Hunter series, 1975 (executive producer)
  • Bargain Basement, 1976 (producer)
  • For Gentlemen Only, 1976 (executive producer)
  • Listen Listen Listen, 1976 (executive producer)
  • Schefferville 4th Arctic Winter Games, 1976 (co-producer with Dennis Sawyer)
  • Striker, 1976 (executive producer)
  • The World is Round, 1976 (executive producer)
  • L’Âge de la machine, 1977 (co-producer with Jacques Bobet)
  • Back Alley Blue, 1977 (executive producer)
  • Bekevar Jubilee, 1977 (executive producer)
  • Breakdown, 1977 (executive producer)
  • Flora: Scenes from a Leadership Convention, People and Power series, 1977 (co-executive producer with Arthur Hammond)
  • Happiness Is Loving Your Teacher, 1977 (executive producer)
  • Henry Ford’s America, 1977 (co- producer with Donald Brittain and Paul Wright)
  • Hold the Ketchup, 1977 (executive producer)
  • I Wasn’t Scared, 1977 (co-producer with Vladimir Valenta)
  • Nature’s Food Chain, 1977 (executive producer)
  • One Man, 1977 (co- producer with Michael Scott, James de B. Domville
    James de Beaujeu Domville
    James de Beaujeu Domville is a French-born Canadian theatrical producer and administrator. In addition to his theatrical work, Domville has served in several important Canadian cultural positions, including five years as Commissioner of the National Film Board of Canada .Domville was born in...

    , Tom Daly, Vladimir Valenta)
  • Sail Away, 1977 (executive producer)
  • Strangers at the Door, Adventures in History series, 1977 (co-producer with John Howe, Maxine Samuels)
  • Oh Canada, 1978 (co-producer with Wolf Koenig, Robert Verrall, Dorothy Courtois)
  • Easter Eggs, Canada Vignettes series, 1978 (executive producer)
  • Margaret Laurence, First Lady of Manawaka, 1978 (executive producer)
  • The Point, 1978 (executive producer)
  • The Red Dress, Adventures in History series, 1978 (co-executive producer with Dieter Nachtigall)
  • The Russels, 1978 (executive producer)
  • So Long to Run, 1978 (executive producer)
  • Teach Me to Dance, Adventures in History series, 1978 (co-producer with Vladimir Valenta, John Howe)
  • Voice of the Fugitive, Adventures in History series, 1978 (executive producer)
  • The War is Over, Adventures in History series, 1978 (executive producer)
  • Bravery in the Field, Adventures in History series, 1979 (co-producer with Stefan Wodoslawsky; executive producer)
  • Gopher Broke, Adventures in History series, 1979 (co-producer with Stefan Wodoslawsky; executive producer)
  • Love on Wheels, Canada Vignettes series, 1979 (executive producer)
  • Northern Composition, 1979 (executive producer)
  • Revolution's Orphans, Adventures in History series, 1979 (co-producer with Rob Iveson)
  • Twice Upon a Time, 1979 (co-producer with Stefan Wodoslawsky)
  • Why Men Rape, 1979 (executive producer)
  • Acting Class, 1980 (executive producer)
  • Challenger: An Industrial Romance, 1980 (executive producer)
  • Challenger: An Industrial Romance [short version], 1980 (executive producer)
  • Coming Back Alive, 1980 (co-producer with Wolf Koenig)
  • Maritimes Dig, Canada Vignettes series, 1980 (executive producer)
  • Nose and Tina, 1980 (executive producer)
  • Prehistoric Artifacts, New Brunswick, Canada Vignettes series, 1980 (executive producer)
  • This was the Beginning, Part 1: The Invertebrates, 1980 (executive producer)
  • This was the Beginning, Part 2: The Vertebrates, 1980 (executive producer)
  • Arthritis: A Dialogue with Pain, 1981 (co-executive producer with Robert Verrall)
  • Baxter Earns His Wings, 1981 (executive producer)
  • First Winter, Adventures in History series, 1981 (executive producer)
  • Hail Columbia!, 1981 (co-producer with Graeme Ferguson; IMAX)
  • Where the Buoys Are, 1981 (executive producer)
  • Laughter in My Soul, 1983 (co-executive producer with Robert Verrall)
  • Skyward, 1985 (co-producer with Susumu Sakane; IMAX)
  • Starbreaker, 1984 (co-editor with Bruce Mackay; producer; co-executive producer with Robert Verrall)
  • A Freedom to Move, 1985 (executive producer; IMAX)
  • We Are Born of Stars, 1985 (producer; writer; OMNIMAX3D)
  • Heart Land, 1987 (co-producer with Sally Dundas; IMAX)
  • Echoes of the Sun, 1990 (co-producer with Fumio Sumi, Sally Dundas; co-writer with Nelson Max, Colin Low; IMAX)
  • Flowers in the Sky, 1990 (co-producer with Charles Konowal; IMAX)
  • The Last Buffalo, 1990 (co-producer with Sally Dundas; IMAX3D)
  • Rolling Stones: "At the Max", 1991 (co-director with Julien Temple, David Douglas, Noel Archambault; IMAX)
  • Imagine, 1993 (co-producer with Hyok-Kyu Kwon; IMAX3D)
  • Paint Misbehavin’, 1996 (director; co-producer with Steve Hoban; IMAX3D)
  • The Reality Trip, 1997 (appears as himself; TV)
  • Cinéma Vérité: Defining the Moment, 1999 (appears as himself)
  • Cyberworld
    Cyberworld
    CyberWorld is a 2000 3-D comedy film shown in IMAX. Several segments originally filmed in 2-D animation are showcased as converted to 3-D format.-Segments:* The "Homer³" segment from The Simpsons, episode "Treehouse of Horror VI"...

    , 2000 (co-producer with Sally Dundas, Steven Hoban, Hugh Murray; IMAX)

External links

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