♪ >> Jim: Hello everyone.

Thanks for tuning into another edition of Canada Files .

I'm Jim Deeks.

In our ongoing effort to be relevant we're pleased to welcome Larry O'Reilly as our guest on this episode.

You may not know Larry but he had an exemplary and enviable career, based here in Toronto as the person probably most responsible for building out the global network of IMAX film projection-- the international pinnacle for watching movies and documentaries on ultra-large movie screens.

More recently, as a pioneer in the practical development of holography which we'll explain in further detail.

Before we get started, I should explain to you that for one of the very first times in broadcast television, our guest will be appearing on stage with me as a hologram.

>> Larry O'Reilly-- are you there?

(Whooshing) Yes, you are there.

My goodness!

What do you actually say to a hologram?

Welcome to the set?

Can I get you a coffee?

>> You say what you would normally say because you should feel like I'm right next to you-- even though I'm not.

>> Let's be clear.

I can see you and so can our audience.

But can you see me from where you are?

>> Absolutely.

I can see you're wearing a lovely vest, a blue shirt and a checked jacket.

>> Thank you so much.

I can see you but you are in a different part of the building.

You're coming across as clearly as you could.

Could you also be in London or Singapore or Buenos Aires?

>> Absolutely.

In fact, I have days where I take meetings in London, then beam into New York for a few meetings.

Then I beam into Los Angelos and do meetings there.

I might finish my day in Hong Kong or Singapore and I've not left Toronto!

>> That's fascinating.

We'll discuss the science and the applications of holography in a moment.

I want to go back to earlier in your career when you were with IMAX.

I'm wondering if you always wanted to be in the technology business, as it relates to film-- and projection, rear-screen or otherwise.

Was that a career that you wanted to get into?

>> I really hadn't thought about it.

I came into IMAX slightly by accident.

I was a fan of movies.

I was contemplating a career change and I was thinking maybe movies or sports-- maybe something in entertainment.

My wife and I were at Ontario Place watching Rolling Stones at the MAX and it absolutely blew my mind!

I felt like I was on stage with Keith, Mick and the band.

I turned to my wife and said, " I've got to work for this company!"

Six months later, I was.

>> For those in our audience that aren't aware of IMAX, it's a technology that is quite complicated.

It's very different from what we know as vertical film projection .

No point of going into the minutiae of what it involves.

But as a technology, it was invented in Canada in 1967.

It was introduced in 1970 at Seattle's World Fair.

The first IMAX single-purpose theatre was introduced in Toronto in 1971.

Today, there are more than 1,500 IMAX theatres in 80 countries.

What was your role in helping to build out that whole footprint?

>> My role in building the footprint was as president of worldwide sales.

When I joined IMAX, I started in the film group.

I was distributing Rolling Stones at the MAX and Titanica and other titles we had.

But we had a business issue.

We had a consumer experience that the people absolutely loved.

But the business model was broken.

We had to come up with Plan B.

At the time Plan B was, the only place you could see 3D in a theatre was at an IMAX theatre.

Two locations-- Montreal and Galveston, Texas.

So we decided we would try to commercialize 3D.

I was part of the team that came up with the plan to try to convince the cinema owners, as they were building these multiplexes, that the anchor should be an IMAX theatre.

We would work with the Hollywood studios to develop technologies where we could take the very biggest blockbusters and enhance them-- specifically to take advantage of the picture and sound of an IMAX auditorium.

It worked!

My team went from 70 theatres when I joined to over 1,400 theatres when I left.

>> Anybody who has seen an IMAX film is blown away with the experience.

One wonders what was the whole point?

It's not as if film projection was this tiny technology that was so restricted.

Before IMAX, you had Cinerama and Todd-AO.

What is the appeal of IMAX today?

What's made it so successful?

>> Your entire field of view is taken up with an image of extremely high quality.

You are also fully immersed in the sound, also at a really high quality.

This experience is telling your brain that what you're seeing and hearing is real .

It allows a film-maker to transport the audience anywhere in the world.

Down to the Titanic.

Up on the Space Station.

At the top of Everest.

Everywhere in between.

It really allows the audience to suspend disbelief.

>> You mentionned some of those early and ongoing films that have been so successful for IMAX.

With a lot of your work, IMAX got into Hollywood-- and major Hollywood films.

What was your role in taking IMAX to Hollywood producers?

>> I was running film distribution at the time when we first started dealing with Hollywood.

The first big movie break-through for us was Fantasia 2000 the IMAX Experience.

It played in 63 IMAX theatres around the world.

It did almost $1 million per theatre!

I think our box office in 3-4 months was about $62 million.

Then it played on over 3,000 regular screens-- and it did about the same amount of money.

So that was an ' a-hah' moment for Hollywood.

You take the IMAX brand and you combine it with the Disney brand and there's a huge audience that is looking for that experience.

>> You left IMAX about 5 years ago.

It was somewhat of a natural transition-- it took a couple of years before you got into holography.

Tell us more about the transition for you into this new business, and the origins of the business.

>> It was founded by the entertainer, Paul Anka and a businessman, Rene Bharti.

Their goal was to create a Frank Sinatra show for the Wynn Hotel.

Tupac had just played Coachella as a hologram and it was revolutionary within the music industry.

It was worldwide news.

Unfortunately, their Frank Sinatra show didn't happen at the Wynn Hotel.

They had to move on to Plan B.

A few years later, I was contacted by a former sales agent of mine at IMAX who was based in Brazil, who said, "You've got to check out this technology."

"They're doing these huge-scale shows with Tony Robbins, Stephen Hawking and Deepak Chopra."

"But they can't figure out a way to monetize and get to scale within the business."

"Would you take a look at it?"

So I came to Toronto to a Queen Street studio and they beamed this guy in from Los Angelos.

I was having a conversation just like you and I are.

I was absolutely blown away.

It was the same overwhelming experience of "I can't believe this!"

Like when I saw "at the MAX" at Ontario Place.

For people who experience this technology for the first time, that's how they react.

They can't look away.

It's so much better than you think it would be.

>> The very first hologram that I ever saw was about 10 years ago at the Celine Dion show at Caesers Palace in Las Vegas.

She was doing a duet with a hologram of Stevie Wonder at the piano.

It was just amazing.

I remember thinking that is a heck of a technology they've got, but what are the applications beyond that?

You can answer that because that is almost dinosaur technology compared to holograms today.

>> Hologram technology has improved and presentation quality has improved which helps engagement.

But the big differentiation for ARHT Media is our software which allows us to take large data packs and encrypt, compress and send them anywhere in the world in less than .3 seconds.

When you present a moving image of an individual and they look lifelike, life-size, in 3D without the need for 3D glasses and there's no latency that's noticeable in the audio your brain is telling you that they're in the room with you.

We call that creating presence .

By creating presence, you create an experience that's not almost as good as a person being there but is better and more impactful than the person being there.

It allows us to solve business issues on a whole host of verticals.

Our focus is professional services.

They travel non-stop.

We can reduce the need for their travel-- they have to travel sometimes.

But you can engage with customers.

You can connect and teach them things.

You can consult and do business with them.

All holographically because of this two-way communications.

We're in financial services, education, entertainment, and in the technology industry.

There are other applications as well.

>> I could be a university professor in London speaking to a theatre of students in Melbourne, Australia.

>> Absolutely.

We have universities that are doing that right now.

We have a display, an American Samoa community college, in the South Pacific.

They have regular classes taught by professors from the University of Hawaii.

They beam down to the South Pacific and have two-way interactions with their class.

They run their courses that way.

>> We have a clip that you've isolated for us that shows this presence.

Leads us into this clip.

Tell us what we're looking at.

>> This was a conference last year in Vancouver.

Our client was Sun Life, with a benefits conference.

The SVP of Benefits for Sun Life was unable to be in Vancouver.

The EVP, Kevin Dougherty, was in Vancouver.

He was live on stage and he beams in his colleague.

Let's take a look.

♪ >> Hey Dave!

>> Hey Vancouver!

Kevin, how are you doing?

>> Is that yourself?

>> This is myself here with you in Vancouver on stage.

>> Welcome.

It's great to see you.

This works out really well.

Where are you?

>> I'm in Toronto.

We should tell your audience this isn't one of those demos where I'm not real.

I'm really here on stage with you in Vancouver.

>> Fantastic.

You're looking well.

>> I'll say thank you to everyone in Vancouver.

It's awesome to join you on stage.

(applause) (whooshing) >> Where is this technology going in 10 or 50 years?

>> Personally, I'm concentrating on 10 years because 50 years from now, I'm not going to be here.

>> That makes two of us.

>> It's evolving quickly.

The good news that has come out of COVID is that it has forced organizations to embrace technology to communicate.

They don't have to get on a plane to have an internal meeting.

Or "break bread" with the client six times a year-- maybe once a year.

Instead of talking six times a year, you can talk very effectively every day or week in a very impactful way.

It reduces the need for travel.

Just before COVID hit, at Davos the number one topic was how do we reduce our carbon footprint?

CEO after CEO went to the microphone and said, "We will be carbon-neutral by this date".

For the professional services like the big accounting firms-- over 80% of their carbon footprint was flying people to meetings.

Now you can communicate with that person on the other side more frequently with equal impact.

>> What negative impacts might there be for other industries, like the business travel.

If everybody in 10 years is going to be appearing by hologram at conventions and meetings.

There aren't going to be a lot of flights, hotel rooms booked.

Do you think of other negative impacts that might happen?

>> As I said, there already was a focus of trying to reduce carbon footprint.

Reducing travel is just one way to do it.

It's a very measurable way to do it.

Not just holograms but COVID, Zoom, and all the streaming platforms are forcing organizations to re-think their corporate travel.

At IMAX, when I was running the global sale team we would have these conferences.

My CEO and I would be going through the list-- this person and this person doesn't need to be there.

They could all justify being there.

Business can continue without the need to get on a plane as often as we were.

>> Tell me about your company, ARHT Media.

What does the acronym stand for?

>> The acronym stands for Augmented Reality Holographic Telepresence .

>> What projects are you working on in 2021?

>> The newest product we've just launched is called the Holopod .

We have an event-type display that is portable.

You're seeing me on that now.

We have 5, 10 and 30 feet-wide versions, and custom versions as well.

The company was focused on the events business before.

Now we're looking to replace the high-end video conferencing with much greater impact.

We can do so with a cost-effective way by having permanent installations.

Our clients who have purchased our holopresence display are saying we would use it more often if it were simpler to operate-- and in a roll-away cabinet when we weren't using it.

Make it more plug-and-play for a university professor, as an example.

We launched the Holopod last month.

The first unit is at The University Health Network in downtown Toronto.

They're looking at networking their expertise on University Avenue to hospitals all across Ontario.

>> Is your company unique or do you have competitors throughout the world?

>> There are certain aspects of what we do that other people do.

We are the only company in the world that are focused 100% on live presentations.

We do pre-recorded presentations too.

Sometimes there's a reason-- time zones or somebody wants to do a presentation and they're not available at 3:00am to speak to Singapore.

We're focused on live .

We're the only company that does this on a global basis with a global footprint.

Our headquarters is in Toronto.

We have studios in New York, Los Angelos, Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul, London, and Tel Aviv.

The list is growing and expanding quickly.

>> You mentionned Paul Anka was behind the company origins.

Tell us how he got involved.

I should mention that Paul Anka is a fellow Canadian.

>> Paul Anka is Canadian, born in Ottawa.

He has been based in Los Angelos for some time.

He was a co-founder.

He saw opportunities in the music industry.

When you write a song like My Way , you've got a Rolodex!

He was focused on the entertainment sector.

There are companies that specialize in holograms specifically for the music industry.

You've heard about the Roy Orbison tour or the Maria Callas tour.

Or other entertainers who are deceased where they have an actor who plays that person.

They're lip-synching to an original recording-- often times play with a live music orchestra.

That's the entertainment business where the expertise is touring and concerts.

That's not our expertise.

We're focused on trying to solve business problems.

For all executives around the world in constant demand-- how do we make them more efficient?

You're not efficient when you're sitting on a plane for 12 hours flying to Hong Kong from Toronto.

You might take in a couple of movies.

You might get work done on your computer.

I lived that!

I spent more than 300,000 miles a year living on planes in my IMAX days.

I'm much more efficient today.

>> You've been with ARHT Media for three years.

What's the most satisfying achievement that your company has made, for you personally.

>> That's a good question.

There are so many moments.

As the CEO, it's seeing the team come together and be on a mission.

We really have a sense of purpose that we're changing the way that people communicate.

It's hugely beneficial to those individuals.

At the same time, it's beneficial to the world from a carbon-footprint perspective.

We're helping clients in different ways and applications.

We do events that are mind-blowing.

Last year, the Crown Prince of Dubai was the host of the World Government Summit.

We did a hologram of him giving a speech about the seven trends of future cities.

One of those trends is, in the future, there will be avatars of ourselves that you can send to meetings or socialize with friends.

Consequently it made sense that he gave that presentation as a hologram.

The mandate from his people was the audience can't be able to tell that it's a hologram.

The audience has to believe he is on stage delivering it-- in front of 5,000 people, 80 heads of state on national tv At the end of his speech he walked out from the wings and shook hands with these government leaders.

They actually thought he was delivering the speech.

>> Incredible!

We've just come through Christmas, a COVID Christmas.

A situation we wouldn't have envisaged a year ago.

For many families in North America and around the world, families have not been able to get together.

If you beamed forward 10 years from now, would families be able to get together in their living rooms through holograms?

Do you see that happening?

>> Absolutely.

The technology will evolve on the display side.

Our software would enable it today and will get better.

Because it does keep getting better!

I think people will socialize that way.

There are times you can't be there because of a conflict.

Or there's a pandemic.

In my own case, at Christmas I'd planned to visit my parents who live in Calgary.

They called me and said the pandemic is raging here.

We're older.

The vaccine is coming.

Let's postpone our visit until we're vaccinated.

We'll overcome those situations.

I had a client last year and she saw the technology for the first time and she went crazy.

She said, "OMG!

My husband's birthday is next week."

"My daughter is in LA, applied for a green card but she can't come."

"My son lives in London, has a young family and he can't come."

"Your technology could have done it!"

She had a private dining room with 15 guests.

We set up a small holographic screen.

We beamed people in from London and LA.

The family was together and it was bloody awesome .

>> I'm going to ask you one last question that I ask all my guests on Canada Files .

You have travelled around the world many times.

You met many important and influential people.

You're representing Canadian ingenuity and achievement.

What does being Canadian mean to you from all this experience?

>> It's a good question.

The reality is if you are Canadian, you are generally welcomed anywhere in the world.

Probably more so than any other nationality.

We have a reputation of being fair, honest and decent.

Americans might think we're a little boring.

But we're polite-- unfailingly polite.

But also sincere.

I'm extremely proud to be Canadian.

I've worked around the world.

My job at IMAX was based in Los Angelos for years.

I always felt the pull back to Canada.

Getting off at Pearson-- doesn't matter where I've been, I always feel great.

>> Larry, you're clearly on the leading edge.

We appreciate the time you've shared with us today.

I don't mean to be rude but-- you can go now.

>> Thanks Jim.

It's been a pleasure.

(Whooshing) >> And he's gone!

I want to thank you too for joining us today.

Hope to see you again soon with more Canada Files .

♪ ♪