To Fly!

To Fly! is a 1976 American short docudrama film by Greg MacGillivray and Jim Freeman of MacGillivray Freeman Films. It was the premiere film of the National Air and Space Museum's giant-screen IMAX theater, which opened for the museum's current building to celebrate the United States Bicentennial. The film chronicles the history of aviation in the US and its effects on humanity, with a narration written by Thomas McGrath. The film explores the search for national identity and humanity's destined relationship with aviation.

The idea of the film was proposed in 1970 and was revisited four years later following NASM director Michael Collins' interest in an IMAX theater for the museum. MacGillivray and Freeman expanded a treatment developed by the Smithsonian Institution and Francis Thompson, Inc, adding humor to tell audiences the film is not littered with technical jargon. Due to the large dimensions of the IMAX screen, the filmmakers aimed for immersion and clarity via novel cinematographic techniques. Three cameras were modified to meet MacGillivray and Freeman's needs. Creation of the closing space sequence prompted experiments due to the limits of the IMAX cameras and format. The film was edited by MacGillivray and Freeman while the score was composed by Bernardo Segall. The film was finished on schedule, despite a low budget and difficult year of production.

To Fly! was released on July 1, 1976. It was scheduled for a year of screening during the Bicentennial, but due to public demand was screened indefinitely. The film was later released in other formats, and had a 20th-anniversary special edition in 1996. The film was deemed significant for introducing audiences to the then-new IMAX format and influencing future filmmakers, and was inducted into the National Film Registry as well as the IMAX Hall of Fame. It also cast MacGillivray as a major IMAX filmmaker. Amassing a large following and a notable role in the growing popularity of museum IMAX theaters, To Fly! remained the highest-grossing giant-screen documentary for several decades. It received acclaim for its cinematography, editing, and narrative; it was hailed as a Washingtonian icon and received various accolades.