An Evening with IMAX Innovator Greg MacGillivray

IMAX filmmaker Greg MacGillivray

Adventuring filmmaker Greg MacGillivray, whose career began in lowly 8mm and mushroomed to IMAX proportions, will spend an evening at the Ocean Institute in Dana Point, California November 20th, sharing clips from upcoming films and slides and stories from past cinema shoots.

Greg’s first 8mm black-and-white movies at Newport Harbor High School led to creating some of the best surfing films of the 1960’s. He and the late Jim Freeman formed the award-winning MacGillivrary-Freeman Films to become the largest and most independent producers and distributors of special venue (70mm) motion pictures in the world.

The company’s 1998 IMAX production of Everest was the highest grossing giant-screen picture ever produced. MacGillivray’s latest film, the 2008 Grand Canyon Adventure—A River at Risk, was shot in 3D. It highlights water conservation issues.

Two of his earlier films, The Living Sea and Dolphins were nominated for Academy Awards.

“The ocean is my life,” he said. “I hope my films inspire people to love the ocean as much as I do, and to do everything they can to ensure its lasting health.”

Link: ocean-institute.org

“Green” Producer’s New Film

Southern California filmmaker Greg Reitman at the United Nations

Southern Californian Greg Reitman, the “green” award-winning producer, began his newest production with a series of interviews at the United Nations.

He said his documentary film, Rooted In Peace, explores the Arab-Israeli conflict “in an entirely new way, by tracing the origins of Jewish, Christian and Muslim religions back to their common patriarch, Abraham.”

Reitman’s Blue Water Entertainment, Inc. largely focuses “on environmentally conscience entertainment.” His Fields of Fuel focused on biodiesel as “the fastest and most sustainable means to reducing our country’s dependence on oil.” It won the 2008 Sundance Audience Award for Best Documentary.

—Hal McClure