The GSCA 2012 Achievement Awards were presented at the Esquire IMAX Theatre on September 18, 2012, during the GSCA International Conference and Trade Show in Sacramento, California. IMAX Corporation also presented its Maximum Image Awards that evening. Congratulations to the following award recipients.
Photos by James Hyder for GSCA. © 2012 by Cinergetics, LLC.
GSCA Awards
Best Film, Short Subject (tie)
To the Arctic
MacGillivray Freeman Films, IMAX Corporation, Warner Bros.
Rocky Mountain Express
The Stephen Low Company
Greg MacGillivray, director of To the Arctic, and Stephen Low, director and producer of Rocky Mountain Express
Best Film for Lifelong Learning
To the Arctic
MacGillivray Freeman Films, IMAX Corporation, Warner Bros.
Director Greg MacGillivray and Producer Shaun MacGillivray
Best Film, Feature Length
Mission: Impossible-Ghost Protocol: The IMAX Experience
Distributed by Paramount Pictures and IMAX Corporation
IMAX Corporation's Gina Glen, Manager, Domestic Film Distribution; and Bernie Paine, Director of Film Marketing
Best Original Score
The Last Reef
Original Score by Steve McNicholas and Luke Cresswell. Produced by Giant Screen Films, Yes/No Productions, Liquid Pictures. Distributed by Giant Screen Films.
Steve McNicholas and Luke Cresswell, Yes/No Productions
Best Cinematography
Rocky Mountain Express
Cinematography by Stephen Low, Mark Poirier, and Ralph Mendoza. Produced and distributed by The Stephen Low Company.
Alex Low, Producer; Mark Poirier, Director of Photography; Stephen Low, Producer/Director; Shaune Sylvester, Pietro Serapiglia, Producer
Best Sound Design
The Last Reef
Sound Design and mix by Brian Eimer and Mike Roberts. Produced by Giant Screen Films, Yes/No Productions, Liquid Pictures. Distributed by Giant Screen Films.

Brian Eimer and Mike Roberts
Best Marketing Campaign by a Distributor
National Geographic Entertainment, Flying Monsters
John Wickstrom, Sales Director, Film Distribution; Antonietta Monteleone, Director of Distribution; Mark Katz, President, Distribution; Nikki Lowry, Director of Film Marketing and Outreach; Lisa Truitt, President; Nell Constantinople, Distribution Coordinator
Best Film Launch by a Theater
Montreal Science Centre for its launch of Born to Be Wild
Julie LaRoche, Director Sales, Products and Customer Service at the Montreal Science Centre
Best Theater Marketing Campaign
Digicel IMAX Theatre Trinidad for the launch of its new theater
Brian Jahra, Chairman, Giant Screen Entertainment Limited; Ingrid Jahra, CEO, Giant Screen Entertainment Limited; James Patterson, Bangkok IMAX Theatre Co.
Best Educational Program
Science Centre Singapore
Born to Be Wild Program and Children’s Day Program
(no photo available)
Big Idea Award
The Henry Ford
Quidditch match to promote Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2: The IMAX Experience
Amy Louise Bartlett, Director of Guest Services and IMAX; Ron Bartsch, Senior Manager, IMAX Projection & Programming; Chris Young, student producer and director.
Big Shoe (awarded by GSCA staff to recognize an exemplary volunteer)
Dick Vaughan, National Media Museum

Tammy Barrett, GSCA Executive Director; Dick Vaughan, IMAX Technical and Programme Manager; Kelly Germain, GSCA Director of Communications and Membership
Special Recognition Award
The Dream Is Alive
On April 4, 2012, IMAX Corporation donated two unique cameras to the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC. The two 70mm IMAX cameras flew a combined total of 20 space shuttle missions from 1984 to 1998. The IMAX team, led by co-inventor Graeme Ferguson, included cinematographers David Douglas and James Neihouse, audio trainers Ben Burtt and Greg Smith, scene development and content advisor Toni Myers, and Associate Producer Phyllis Ferguson. Together they trained 99 astronauts in all aspects of IMAX movie making. Using the footage they brought back, a special partnership between IMAX, NASA, Lockheed Martin Corporation, and the National Air and Space Museum enabled the production of 4 films: The Dream Is Alive, Blue Planet, Destiny in Space, and Mission to MIR. Following the phenomenal success of the first four films, 46 more astronauts and cosmonauts were trained to use IMAX 3D cameras to make Space Station 3D and Hubble 3D. Altogether, the 6 films have taken over 100 million people to space. The GSCA awards event included a panel discussion with the filmmakers and a special screening of The Dream Is Alive.

David Keighley Post Production Consulting and Print Quality Control; Director and Sound Designer Ben Burtt; the Director of Communications for Lockheed Missiles and Space, George Mulhern; Producer/Director Graeme Ferguson; Producer/Director, Writer, and Editor Toni Myers; and Director of Photography James Neihouse.
IMAX Maximum Image Awards
IMAX Corporation also presented its Maximum Image Awards at the GSCA event.
Founders Award
Diane Carlson, Pacific Science Center
Patricia Keighley (DKP 70MM Inc.), Diane Carlson
Hall of Fame Award
Shackleton’s Antarctic Adventure
Produced by White Mountain Films and WGBH/NOVA. Distributed by National Geographic Entertainment. The Hall of Fame award honors a film that is at least 10 years old and is voted on by the IMAX theater network.
John Wickstrom, Sales Director, Film Distribution; Antonietta Monteleone, Director of Distribution; Mark Katz, President, Distribution; Nikki Lowry, Director of Film Marketing and Outreach; Lisa Truitt, President; Nell Constantinople, Distribution Coordinator
Best Booth
The Hackworth IMAX Dome Theater at The Tech Museum in San Jose, California

Samantha Robinson, Theater Operations Lead; John Angle, Chief Projectionist; Michelle Duncan, IMAX Theater Manager
Best Booth
Omnitheatre at the Science Centre Singapore
(no photo available)