Born on December 12, 1926, in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Roman Kroitor made enormous contributions to filmmaking during his tenure at the NFB in the 1950s and 1960s, developing the IMAX giant-screen format at the NFB's Montreal studio.

"Roman Kroitor was a remarkable man who has made out-sized contributions to cinema as a filmmaker, producer and creative and technical innovator. He was a legend whose relentless pace of inventiveness continued throughout a long and productive career. His death is a terrific loss to the NFB, Canada and the world of cinema," said Tom Perlmutter, Government Film Commissioner and NFB Chairperson.

Kroitor was a leading light in direct cinema and the new documentary approaches that would put the NFB and Canada at the forefront of a revolution in audiovisual storytelling, with works such as Paul Tomkowicz: Street-railway Switchman and the Candid Eye series.

His creative partnerships with Wolf Koenig and Colin Low resulted in some of the NFB's most acclaimed documentaries of all time, including Glenn Gould - On & Off the Record, Lonely Boy, Stravinsky and Universe. As a producer, Kroitor was involved in the development of fiction films at the NFB, starting with Don Owen's landmark 1964 feature Nobody Waved Goodbye.

Most recently, the NFB and Kroitor were again creative partners, as the NFB animation studio, led by animator Munro Ferguson, developed new creative applications for IMAX Corporation's hand-drawn 3D stereoscopic animation technique called, SANDDE. He is survived by his wife Janet and children Paul, Tanya, Lesia, Stephanie and Yvanna.

Click here for more about Roman Kroiter and to read an interview with the renowned producer, director and film pioneer.

We also learned of the passing of actor Winston Rekert on Friday of last week. Pictured on the right in a still from the 1979 film, Suzanne, Rekert was born in Vancouver. He grew up to become a Gemini Award-winning actor usually remembered for his work on the TV series, Neon Rider. He began his career on stage when he was 12 but left to become a logger in the British Columbia forest industry. He returned to acting when he was cast to be part of the original CBC series, Beachcombers. Rekert had battled cancer for a long time and died on Friday, September 14 in Toronto. He is survived by his wife Lydia, his two adult sons Carson and Dylan, and their mother Pat.