The Labyrinth project, a groundbreaking, multiscreen film event at Expo 67, exemplified the concept of cinema as an all-encompassing environment. Expo 67, one of the most successful World Fairs, was held in Montreal, Canada, from April 27 to October 29, 1967, and showcased architectural marvels and expanded cinema and media experiments. The Expo theme was “Man and His World” – the event celebrated human progress and cultural exchange. Expo 67 played a significant role in promoting Canadian culture and placed Montreal on the World map. Labyrinth was housed in a purpose-built structure, unlike other film presentations at the exposition. It was designed to immerse viewers in a highly choreographed cinematic experience across three distinct spaces, or “chambers”, two of which contained unique, multiscreen theatre designs. This project demonstrated the National Film Board of Canada’s (NFB) pioneering artistic and technological innovation achievements.

The Labyrinth project was conceived by renowned documentary filmmakers Colin Low and Roman Kroitor, from Unit B of the NFB, and was five years in the making. Unit B produced short documentaries for Canadian television, starting with The Candid Eye series in the 1950s. These films were shaped by Henri Cartier-Bresson’s realist aesthetics, capturing everyday life in a “decisive moment”.

For Labyrinth, Low drew inspiration from Mary Renault’s 1958 novel, The King Must Die, a popular reinterpretation of the Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur – the half-man, half-bull creature that resided within the Labyrinth, at Knossos in Crete. In the myth, Theseus navigates the labyrinth by following Ariadne’s thread and slays the Minotaur. In collaboration with Northrop Frye, Low and Kroitor used this myth as a framework for a narrative centered on self-realization, portraying the Minotaur as a metaphor for the inner struggles we must overcome. Their goal was to craft a “ritual” or “artistic” experience designed to evoke a transformative “state of mind”. Like the 1955 Family of Man photographic exhibition (at MoMA in New York), the Labyrinth project emphasized humankind’s shared experiences and commonalities.

The Chambers

The Labyrinth journey began in Chamber 1, titled “Childhood, Confident Youth”, and was a theater space unlike any other. Its design featured two enormous 70mm screens: one orientated vertical, rising 38 ft (11.6m) from the ground, and one horizontally placed, which stretched across the floor beneath. Audience members sat on balconies arranged in a horseshoe formation, gazing up at the towering vertical screen, while simultaneously looking down at the horizontal, ground-level display. The dual-screen setup, enhanced by a sophisticated audio system with 5 independent sound channels, played through 288 strategically placed speakers, created an overwhelming sense of immersion. The interplay of sound and image, combined with the physical demands of shifting gaze between the two enormous screens, evoked a powerful sense of movement through space. This chamber served as a dynamic introduction, establishing the experimental and boundary-pushing nature of the pavilion.

The experience then shifted to Chamber 2, known as “The Maze”, or “The Desert”, which journalist Wendy Michener described as akin to an “acid trip”. Designed by Colin Low, this octagonal room was lined with mirrors on every surface – walls, floor and ceiling – and contained three glass prisms with half-silvered surfaces. When illuminated, the prisms reflected a seeming infinity of lights, creating a cosmic visual effect that dissolved the boundaries of the space. The audience became part of the spectacle – their images were reflected and fragmented endlessly in the mirrors. A soundtrack of electronic tones mixed with animal sounds further heightened the surreal, disorienting atmosphere. Lights flashed and multiplied through the glass while the mirrored passageways zigzagged, reinforcing the sensation of space without end. This chamber sought to dissolve the boundaries between human and nonhuman, self and other – enveloping visitors in a boundless, acoustic and visual cosmos. 

The final chamber, Chamber 3, titled “Death/Metamorphosis”, was a fixed-seated theater, where 35mm images were projected onto five screens arranged in the shape of a cross – a symbolic reference to the tree of life. Here, the immersive multiscreen techniques reached their apex. Films showcased cultural rituals and everyday life worldwide, including a crocodile hunt in Ethiopia, a baptism in Greece, childbirth in Montreal and snow-covered streets in Quebec. These scenes were accompanied by a richly layered soundtrack combining location audio, voiceover and a score composed by NFB’s Eldon Rathburn. The vertical editing style, devised by producer Tom Daly, allowed images to flow across multiple screens, creating moments of striking visual poetry. This compositional approach prevented sensory overload, while encouraging viewers to form subconscious associations. Colin Low described the multiscreen format as a gateway to the “ultimate image”, imagining a future where images would become electronic, stereoscopic, or even holographic.

The film budget for Labyrinth was CA$4.5 million. Among the most popular attractions at Expo 67, with wait times of up to seven hours, the films were seen by 1,324,560 people and ran for 5,545 shows. With the Labyrinth project, Low and Kroitor envisioned an entirely new audiovisual experience – an expanded form of cinema they believed could redefine the medium’s future. Their innovative approach transformed cinematic storytelling at the time and laid the foundation for new technological developments in screen design. Kroitor worked with filmmaker Graeme Ferguson to create IMAX (IMAGE MAXIMUS) for the Osaka Expo in 1970. Low later contributed to the evolution of IMAX 3D with his film Transitions for the Vancouver Expo in 1986.

Media theorist Gene Youngblood later described Expo 67's pioneering experiments, including Labyrinth, as examples of “expanded cinema”, heralding a new visual language that continues to influence filmmaking today.