Vancouver: After the stellar success with its first and, to date, only dvd release – Super Speedway – Vancouver-based Big Picture DVD Productions is set to release seven new dvd titles by the fall.

According to Big Picture president Ryan Mullins, the present volumes make his company the largest dvd producer in Canada.

The backbone of its 1999 slate is a six-project deal with Laguna Beach, California-based MacGillivray Freeman Films, reputed to be the largest imax or large-format film production company in the world and the creator behind the imax film Everest.

In the deal, Big Picture will recreate six existing large-format films – including the first imax title, To Fly, which explores the sensation of flying – as interactive dvd products.

Big Picture will repackage other MacGillivray Freeman titles including The Magic of Flight (featuring the Blue Angels squadron), The Living Sea, The Discoverers (about history’s great explorers), Speed and Stormchasers (about the scientific pursuit of weather phenomena like tornadoes).

Also involved in the six-project deal is Image Entertainment of Los Angeles, which will handle the distribution of the Big Picture dvds, and Vancouver’s Rainmaker Entertainment, whose interactive division is negotiating an equity-for-service contract and will handle compression and other technical aspects of the dvds.

The seventh title is a repackaging of the imax film Beavers by Stephen Low Film Company of Montreal. The Beavers dvd will, according to Mullins, be the first disc to include archival material, in this case a 1929 documentary featuring Grey Owl and his efforts to save Canada’s beaver population.

Telefilm’s multimedia funding envelope has invested $55,000 toward the dvd production of The Magic of Flight and Beavers, which will likely be the first of the new releases. Mullins says he expects to have the catalogue of new releases ready for preliminary viewing at the Video Software Dealers Association conference in Las Vegas in July.

On March 31, meanwhile, Big Picture’s momentum received another boost when it won two of the nine awards at the inaugural European DVD Awards in Dublin for Super Speedway. As the only Canadian production in competition, Super Speedway won as best entertainment dvd and best audio dvd.

Based on the imax film of the same name directed by Stephen Low and produced by Open Wheel Productions of Montreal, Super Speedway is based on the experiences of racers Mario and Michael Andretti in the cart racing world. The disc, which features the original Super Speedway film, a ‘making of’ documentary, filmographies, menus and commentary in a variety of languages – was widely hailed by critics and consumers as one of the best dvds in 1998.

According to Mullins, Super Speedway has sold 35,000 units, selling at retail prices of about $25 per unit.

Other dvd productions vying for trophies at the European DVD Awards included Trainspotting and The Mask.