Roman Kroitor

December 12, 1926 — Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Canada

Roman Kroitor (December 12, 1926 – September 17, 2012) was a Canadian filmmaker who was known as a pioneer of Cinéma vérité, as the co-founder of IMAX, and as the creator of the Sandde hand-drawn stereoscopic 3D animation system. He was also the original inspiration for The Force. His prodigious output garnered numerous awards, including two BAFTA Awards, three Cannes Film Festival awards, and two Oscar nominations. Roman Boghdan Kroitor was born in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, to Ukrainian immigrants Peter and Tatiana (Shewchuk), both of whom were teachers. Peter died when Roman was four; Tatiana moved the family to Winnipeg and continued teaching. Roman attended the University of Manitoba, graduating in 1951 with a Master of Arts in Philosophy.