Stephen Low’s mind is always racing, an important asset for a filmmaker working in the complex world of large format film production, a world in which he is renowned.

In a half-hour interview he covers a lot of terrain, from the complexities of working in lf to digital cinema to dilemmas facing lf filmmakers.

Low, a veteran and respected imax filmmaker, whose father Colin was an lf pioneer, has been in the business for nearly 30 years. It would not be overstating the case to say the medium grew up around him.

He got his start in 1970, experimenting with the medium with his father by taking thousands of two-and-one-quarter-inch still photographs and blowing them up onto a large screen. It was a precursor to the work he did on the 1998 3D release Mark Twain’s America, where he blew up 19th century photos and digitally converted them into 3D for the giant screen.

Born in Ottawa, Low began working professionally as a cameraman in Newfoundland in 1976.

His first foray into the world of professional lf production came when he took a job as researcher at Imax on the 1982 film Hail, Columbia. He got his first shot at directing in 1985 with Skyward, a 24-minute lf production for the Tsukuba International Exposition.

His next film, Beavers, which was shot underwater and portrays the life of a beaver, continues to be one of the most popular lf films of all time. Beavers, promoted as ‘The biggest dam movie you ever saw,’ has grossed nearly $60 million to date. ‘We have Beavers in theatres and they can’t get rid of it,’ he says. ‘It’s like other rodents, they don’t go away.’

Today, Low stands as one of the most prodigious lf filmmakers ever with eight films to his name, including other perennial lf mainstays Titanica and Super Speedway.

Despite his success, he demonstrates a healthy cynicism toward the business and a realistic attitude on the struggles filmmakers face when they enter the realm of the giant screen. ‘There isn’t much money in the business and a lot of hot air,’ he says.

While directors in mainstream cinema are treated like royalty by the studios and the public alike – and pull in a proportionate king’s ransom in fees – lf filmmakers have not been treated as well, Low says.

‘The superstar of imax has always been the projector,’ he says of the advanced projection system Imax touts as the hub of its business model.

‘The projector is the star,’ he says. ‘Imax is keeping its shares up on the basis of projector rentals.’

The traditional split between exhibitor and filmmaker weighs heavily in favor of the exhibitor, and Low sneers at the fact that for all his work he might only see 5% of the box-office receipts. Meanwhile, Imax charges theatre owners about 7% of grosses for licensing the projection system.

‘The problem is that people don’t go to imax theatres to look at the projector, or the seats or the theatre. There’s that big white screen that has to be filled…it’s the movie they want to see and that’s never been adequately dealt with.’

After finishing work on Mark Twain’s America, Low took a year-long sabbatical from filmmaking. He has only now begun to think about his next projects. Despite his slightly jaundiced view of the business, Low has returned because he loves working in the medium. After all, making movies is where filmmakers express themselves best.