New York Festivals Television & Film Awards will honor Greg MacGillivray, chairman/director of MacGillivray Freeman Films, with the 8th annual New York Festivals® Lifetime Achievement Award.

MacGillivray’s award-winning creative career will be honored at the New York Festivals Television & Film Awards gala on Tuesday, April 10, at the annual NAB Show in Las Vegas. New York Festivals is now in its 61st year of honoring the World’s Best TV & Films. The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes prominent industry leaders whose accomplishments have advanced their field and made a lasting impression on the industry.

“My filmmaking for the giant-screen IMAX Theatre format is different from conventional filmmaking,” said MacGillivray.  “We put audience members in the film. They are immersed in the scene on the giant IMAX Theatre screen.  From the time I worked with Stanley Kubrick on The Shining through the time spent making 40 films for IMAX theatres, my creative team in Laguna Beach and I keep trying to push the film experience to new and unexpected levels.”

MacGillivray has been producing and directing award-winning films for more than 50 years. In that time, he has gone from surf films to Hollywood to the Smithsonian and IMAX and across the world. MacGillivray partnered with Jim Freeman to form MacGillivray Freeman Films in 1966 and today has more than 50 films to his credit. Since then, MacGillivray’s company has made 40 giant-screen films in some of the planet’s most exotic and challenging locations, such as the top of the world’s tallest mountain for the blockbuster documentary “Everest.” Throughout his illustrious career MacGillivray has personally shot more 70mm film than anyone in cinema history. He has created 5 of the top 10 highest-grossing IMAX films of all time and with 360 theaters worldwide showing his films, in 2003 he became the first documentary filmmaker to reach the $1 billion benchmark in worldwide ticket sales.

MacGillivray has received two Academy Award nominations for Best Documentary Short Subject: “The Living Sea” in 1995 and “Dolphins” in 2000. He and his team remain committed to using the best tools to capture the highest quality images and continue to make film experiences that go beyond the technology of our time.

A passionate ocean conservationist, MacGillivray and his wife Barbara founded the One World One Ocean Campaign and the non-profit MacGillivray Freeman Films Educational Foundation, multimedia initiatives dedicated to educating and inspiring the public through giant-screen films and companion programming about the need to protect the world’s ocean. To complement their documentary films, MacGillivray Freeman helps fund exhibits, teacher guides, companion photography books and educational resources to encourage interest in science, the environment, and world cultures. Their student-screening program has enabled more than 20,000 underserved students to experience their world through their films, and a scientist speaker program brings scientists face to face with kids in classrooms.

Through partnerships with corporations and individuals like Meryl Streep, Morgan Freeman, Sting and Sir Paul McCartney, MacGillivray’s company has brought great brands to the giant screen and pioneered a new way to “force multiply” their educational reach.

The New York Festivals Television & Film Awards gala will also celebrate the 2018 World’s Best TV & Films, as well as, Broadcaster of the Year, Production Company of the Year, Program Promotion Team of the Year, and United Nations Department of Public Information Awards. 

This is the eighth year that NYF and their official partner, NAB Show, will present the competition to more than 103,000 attendees from 166 countries and over 1,700+ exhibiting companies. Award-winning entries will be showcased on the NYF Television & Film Awards website. To view all the 2018 Finalists, please click here.