"Avatar" is made using Canadian technology by a Canadian director, but is considered American

Although the screening has not yet ended, J. Cameron's new film ranks 14th on the list of best-selling films in cinema history. "Avatar: The Way of the Water" was conceived and directed by James Cameron, a Canadian by birth. And IMAX technology, which is a Canadian invention, was used to create it.

In the 1970s, Canadians Robert Kerr, William Shaw, Graeme Ferguson and Roman Kreuthor created the Multiscreen system, which was based on the use of multiple screens. But the result was not very successful. It was only a few years later that the technology was perfected. The system consisted of one screen and one projector, and a 70mm film. And that's how IMAX was born.

Image Maximum, IMAX or "maximum picture" makes the image on the screen brighter and more saturated. This spectacular picture technology is created with special equipment for recording and showing in movie theatres.

But despite the use of the Canadian invention, the government believes that it is not possible to call a film Canadian. By law, Canadian content must meet certain criteria. "Avatar" meets only one: the producer is Canadian.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission officially certifies films as "Canadian content" if:

• the producer of the film is a Canadian;
• the main actor has a Canadian passport;
• 75% of the costs are made at the expense of Canadians;
• other participants in the shoot (composer, production designer, etc.) are Canadians.

These are the criteria by which almost all the work of Canadian actors such as Jim Carrey, Mike Myers or Ryan Reynolds fails. Even Deadpool 2, filmed in Vancouver, fails the test.

Cameron was born in Kapuskasing, Ontario. He spent most of his childhood in Chippewa, near Niagara Falls. Among Canadians who move to Hollywood, it is customary to obtain joint U.S. citizenship or to give up the Canadian passport altogether.

But Cameron remains exclusively a Canadian citizen: he tore up his last application for U.S. citizenship to protest the 2004 re-election of U.S. President George H.W. Bush Jr.

"Avatar: The Way of the Water" will be the third film where Cameron acted as screenwriter, producer and director, and subsequently became the highest-grossing film in history. It was the same story with Titanic in 1997 and then repeated with the first Avatar movie released in 2009.