Projection technology developed in Kitchener wins Academy Award

Christie, a company whose center of excellence for engineering is based in Kitchener, has received a high honor.

The company, and its principal product developer, Mike Perkins, have been awarded the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Award in Scientific and Engineering for their development of the Christie E3LH projection system.

The projector allows for a much brighter image with richer colours and better contrast. (Leighanne Evans/CTV Kitchener)

Perkins said work on the technology began in 2011.

“Our partner, Dolby, approached us. They had a vision for the future of cinema, but they were missing one key piece – the projector,” he explained.

That’s where Christie came into play.

Perkins said together, they had a common goal – expand the frontiers of what cinema in the theatre is.

“That means much brighter image, much richer colors and above all else, much better contrast,” he said.

“If you go to a movie theatre today, when the scenes fade to black, they don’t really fade to black, they fade to this dull, murky, grey,” Perkins explained. “With the E3LH we’ve solved that problem. The contrast ratio is a thousand times better than it was on standard cinema, and the improvement and the richness in the detail that you get with that kind of image is just stunning.”

It’s a sentiment the company’s Vice President of Engineering agrees with. David Kiers applauds the local talent, who came together to create the projector.

“Our main engineering headquarters is here in Kitchener,” Kiers said. “All of this work is being developed here with a large team of engineers.”

Christie Principal Product Developer Mike Perkins and Vice President of Engineering David Kiers are seen in Kitchener on Jan. 15, 2024. (Leighanne Evans/CTV Kitchener)

Christie engineers began working on the projector back in 2011. They watched it come to life in 2015 when the first movie, “Tomorrowland,” was shown using it.

Looking back, Perkins talks about how exciting and relieving that moment was.

“There is always the question when you create new technology,” said Perkins. “In the context of Hollywood, that means will the creators, directors and producers step up and provide content for your brand new platform? It’s a lot of extra work for them and there has to be a payoff.”

Since then, the projector has been installed in more than 300 cinema screens in more than 15 countries.

“The fact that so many movies have been produced where they remaster the content for our projector – that’s the validation. That means we did something right,” Perkins said with a smile.

In 2015, "Tomorrowland" became the first film to be shown using the technology. (Leighanne Evans/CTV Kitchener)

Perkins will be recognized during the official awards ceremony on Feb. 23 at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, California.

“The amount of response I’ve been getting is just incredible. Within the company, but also outside, people stopping me and saying ‘congratulations we’re so happy for you’. It’s really gratifying to get that kind of feedback. The love and respect from the community,” Perkins said.

Kiers is proud of him and his team too.

“Finally seeing it recognized by the academy and the movie industry for what it’s doing to the movie industry is really good and fun to watch,” Kiers said.

This award marks the third Academy Award for Christie. The company has previously received two awards for technical achievements, one in 1983, and the other in 1998.

They hope to continue to have this type of success with their innovations down the road.

“We want this to be the standard of cinema for all theatres around the world,” said Perkins. “It’s going to take a lot of work for us to get there, but we have a company that can do it.”