MacGillivray Freeman Films
# MacGillivray Freeman Films

MacGillivray Freeman Films is an American film studio based in Laguna Beach, California and founded in the mid-1960s by Greg MacGillivray and Jim Freeman. It produces documentaries, feature films, and IMAX films.

## History

MacGillivray Freeman Films was established in 1963 in Laguna Beach, California by Greg MacGillivray and Jim Freeman. Greg MacGillivray began making films when he was 13 and later partnered with best friend Jim Freeman to form MacGillivray Freeman Films. In 1966, at the age of 19, the two dropped out of college to make movies full time starting with a film in South America after the success of one of their first surfing documentaries, Free and Easy, which recouped its production costs after only 10 screenings.

In the ensuing years, MacGillivray and Freeman produced a series of documentaries about surfing and skateboarding, pioneering a cinematic perspective for the genre by putting the viewer in the middle of the action via board-mounted cameras.

MacGillivray has produced and directed more than 50 films, over 35 of which are IMAX, and has developed three IMAX cameras: a high-speed (slow-motion) model, a lightweight model and the “all-weather” camera he used while filming on Mt. Everest.

Freeman died in a helicopter crash in 1976, two days before the release of To Fly!

## Films

### Documentaries and other films

Prior to producing IMAX films, the company produced surfing documentaries, TV commercials and filming for Hollywood feature films.

In 1976, it produced Magic Rolling Board, a 10-minute documentary about skateboarding. The company has directed and photographed for Warner Brothers, Twentieth Century Fox, Paramount and Stanley Kubrick. Cinematographer Jonathan Livingston Seagull was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Photography in 1974.The Towering Inferno received the Academy Award for Best Photography in 1975.

### IMAX films

Most well known for its IMAX films, the studio has produced and distributed 35 IMAX films since 1974. Its first IMAX film To Fly!, produced for the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum, was later selected by the Library of Congress for inclusion in the National Film Registry.

Two of its films, Dolphins (2000) and The Living Sea (1995), were nominated for Academy Awards. Its film Everest (1998) appeared Variety's Top 10 Box Office chart for North America.

The company's films have been received nominations and won awards from the Giant Screen Cinema Association (GSCA).

### Filmography

Below is a list of films and television commercials produced and/or distributed MacGillivray Freeman Films.

| Title | Release Date | Runtime | Format | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Let There Be Surf | 1963 | n/a | Filmed in 16mm | Jim Freeman's first commercial film. |
| Outside the Third Dimension | 1964 | n/a | Filmed in 16mm | Produced and directed by Jim Freeman. A film about Hawaiian surfing photographed and released in 3D. |
| A Cool Wave of Summer | 1964 | n/a | Filmed in 16mm | Greg MacGillivray's first commercial film. An avant-garde film about surfing in California. |
| The Glass Wall | 1965 | n/a | Filmed in 16mm | Produced and distributed by Jim Freeman. |
| The Performers | 1965 | n/a | Filmed in 35mm | Produced and directed by Greg MacGillivray. A study of three Californians who find surf and adventure in Hawaii, Mexico and Florida. |
| Moods of Surfing | 1968 | 15 minutes | Filmed in 35mm | Short Film for Theatrical Release by United Artists. |
| Television Commercials | 1969 | n/a | n/a | LTV Corporation Global Van Lines Oldsmobile |
| Catch the Joy | 1969 | 15 minutes | Filmed in 35mm | An aesthetic look at the sport of Dune Buggy-ing by United Artists. |
| Waves of Change | 1969 | n/a | Filmed in 35mm | |
| Television Commercials | 1970 | n/a | n/a | Holiday Inns of America Frosty Root Beer Carnation |
| Sentinels of Silence | 1970 | 28 minutes | Filmed in 35mm | Narrated by Orson Welles. Photographed by Jim Freeman. |
| Ski Movie One | 1970 | n/a | n/a | Produced with Summit Films |
| Five Summer Stories | 1972 | n/a | n/a | |
| To Fly! | 1976 | 27 minutes | Filmed in 70mm | The premiere film for the Theater of the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution |
| The Living Sea | 1995 | 40 minutes | Filmed in 70mm | |
| Dolphins | 2000 | 39 minutes | Filmed in 70mm | |
| To The Arctic | 2012 | 40 minutes | Filmed in 70mm | A close up look at Arctic wildlife |
| Journey to the South Pacific | 2013 | 40 minutes | Filmed in 70mm | A film about marine conservation in Indonesia |
| Humpback Whales | 2015 | 40 minutes | Filmed in 70mm | A film about the resurgence of Humpback whales |
| National Parks Adventure | 2016 | 43 minutes | Filmed in 70mm | A celebration of the 100 year anniversary of the US National Park Service |
| Dream Big: Engineering Our World | 2017 | 42 minutes | Filmed in 70mm | Pioneers of engineering and man-made wonders |
| We, The Marines | 2017 | 37 minutes | Filmed in 70mm | Large format documentary made for permanent exhibit at the National Museum of the Marine Corps |
| America's Musical Journey | 2018 | 40 minutes | Filmed in 70mm | Exploring the roots of America's music |
| Out Where The West Begins | 2021 | 40 minutes | Filmed in 70mm | Four-episode documentary series explaining the history of the Western United States |

## Conservation

### MacGillivray Freeman Films Educational Foundation

In 2004, Greg MacGillivray and his wife Barbara founded the non-profit MacGillivray Freeman Films Educational Foundation to contribute to the conservation of the world's natural and cultural heritage through giant screen films and companion educational programming.

### One World One Ocean Campaign

MacGillivray Freeman established the One World One Ocean campaign, which along with other organizations, was featured in Laguna Beach Eco Heroes, a 30-minute documentary by The My Hero Project. The efforts of the Crystal Cove Alliance, ECO Warrior, Laguna Bluebelt, Laguna Canyon Foundation, Nancy Caruso, Pacific Marine Mammal Center, Wyland, and Zero Trash Laguna were also highlighted in the documentary.

