Stephen Low
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Stephen Low (b. about 1951 in Ottawa, Ontario) is a Canadian film director and screenwriter who works extensively in the IMAX film format. Based in Montreal, Quebec, Low has directed numerous film documentaries including the first IMAX film, Tiger Child, Titanica (1992), Beavers (1988), The Last Buffalo (1990),Across the Sea of Time, Super Speedway, Volcanoes of the Deep Sea (2003) and most recently, Fighter Pilot: Operation Red Flag (2004). The latter film stars Captain John Stratton, Major Robert Novotny and Major Sam Morgan, who are all US Air Force pilots. Beavers, incidentally, is the most successful Canadian film ever made. Costing a million dollars to create, it has earned over $80 million.[1] He was also a consultant on one of the most popular IMAX films ever made, the feature-length IMAX concert film Rolling Stones: At the Max.
Son of animator and documentary film maker Colin Low, Stephen Low was born in Ottawa and raised in Montreal. He attended Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario, graduating in 1974. He began his career with the National Film Board of Canada about 1980 after four years spent in Newfoundland as a cameraman and editor. A brief daliance with Hollywood filmmaking convinced him to stick with documentaries: "Hollywood plays with toys," he said, "they never get close to the real thing."[2]
Among his projects as director at the NFB were Challenger: An Industrial Romance (1980) and Next Generation (1982) (both films are about the Challenger aircraft), and The Defender (1988). He wrote a short film, Acting Classes (1980), directed by John N. Smith.
His company is called The Stephen Low Company, established in 1985.
