Michael Dalton-Smith, Wild Imagination Films, Toronto, ON Canada

Production Category

Biography

Michael Dalton-Smith is a Canadian filmmaker, director, producer, cinematographer, behind three giant screen Volcanoes: The Fires of Creation, Serengeti: A Journey to the Heart of Africa, and his newest film, Alaska: Kingdom of the Eagle.

An independent filmmaker at heart, Michael has built his career around finding new ways to create ambitious films with small teams, and emerging technology. His giant-screen work has included early adoption of affordable drones, pioneering 8K digital production and image-extension techniques, high-frame-rate cinematography, AI-assisted production, and adapting traditional giant-screen content for fulldome, spherical, and emerging LED immersive venues. His work with Cosm’s X Labs has allowed him to experiment with how cinematic storytelling can evolve for these new environments.

Within the GSCA community, Michael has been an active voice for independent filmmakers and an advocate for reconsidering established production, distribution, and revenue-sharing models. He believes innovation isn’t limited to technology—it also means being willing to rethink how films are financed, produced, distributed, and experienced.

Michael brings the perspective of a working independent filmmaker who has spent his career experimenting, adapting, and finding ways to turn ambitious ideas into finished films.

Statement of Purpose

I have never been particularly interested in doing something simply because that is how it has always been done.

During my nearly a decade as part of the GSCA community, I have been a persistent voice for filmmakers and have challenged long-established assumptions about how our industry works. Not to be a disruptor, but to help our industry adapt and evolve in a rapidly changing world.

Giant screen is entering one of the most significant periods of change in its history. The transition is no longer simply from film to digital projection. Immersive and spherical venues, fulldome, LED displays, high-frame-rate presentation, AI, and rapidly evolving production technologies are changing both what we can create and where audiences can experience it.

As a filmmaker and former member of Cosm’s X Labs, I have had the opportunity to experiment at the leading edge of some of these changes. I believe GSCA should be a place where those experiments happen and where the difficult questions that accompany them are actively discussed.

But technology is only part of the challenge.

Sponsorship, once a critical element for filmmakers, has become much more complex and harder to find. Our industry needs more than one business model and the flexibility to adapt those models to our individual needs. We need to find ways to pair our different strengths so that filmmakers, distributors, theaters, and partners can all succeed.

I am running for the GSCA Board because I believe the next several years will require experimentation, open debate, and voices representing different parts of our community.

I won’t always have the right answer. But I won’t be afraid to ask questions, listen to the answers, experiment with new ideas, and advocate for an industry in which both theaters and filmmakers can thrive.

Most importantly, I want GSCA not simply to respond to the future of giant screen, but to help shape it.