Canadian War Museum acquires filmmaker and photojournalist Garth Pritchard’s coverage of Canadian military operations

MEDIA RELEASE

Ottawa, Ontario, October 1, 2019 — The Canadian War Museum has acquired a substantial collection of video footage and photographs from award-winning Canadian photojournalist and documentary filmmaker Garth Pritchard, who spent over twenty years documenting Canadian soldiers overseas.

“We are very pleased to acquire this trove of visual material from such an important documentary filmmaker and photojournalist,” said Caroline Dromaguet, Acting Director General of the Canadian War Museum. “Pritchard’s unique first-hand perspective on the activities of the Canadian military is invaluable to the study of modern conflict, and we are proud to be able to add it to our collections.”

Derived from more than two decades of Pritchard’s work on documentary filmmaking, the acquisition includes over 400 hours of raw video footage and over 700 photographs of Canadian soldiers operating overseas. The footage was shot in Bosnia, Croatia, Burma, Kuwait, Somalia, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. The acquisition also includes the entire collection of still images that Pritchard took in Afghanistan over the course of various missions, footage he shot in Canada during the 1998 ice storm to document Canadian military emergency assistance, field notes, articles and other documents.

Pritchard’s work was included in the Canadian War Museum’s award-winning 2007–2008 exhibition Afghanistan: A Glimpse of War, a ground breaking presentation of Canada’s participation in the Afghanistan conflict, as documented by Pritchard and fellow journalist Stephen J. Thorne. His video footage is also integrated into the Afghanistan section in the Museum’s Canadian Experience Gallery 4.

Before becoming a documentary filmmaker, director and cinematographer, Pritchard worked as a photographer, writer and editor at four major Canadian newspapers. He travelled the world filming Canadian soldiers on peacekeeping and other operations. He has travelled to Afghanistan six times since 2002, capturing unique video footage and eyewitness accounts from Kabul, Kandahar and the Afghan countryside. Pritchard has won 14 awards for six of his documentaries, including the Ross Munro Media Award in 2003 for his work in Afghanistan.

The Canadian War Museum is Canada’s national museum of military history. Its mission is to promote public understanding of Canada’s military history in its personal, national and international dimensions. Work of the Canadian War Museum is made possible in part through financial support of the Government of Canada.

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Media contacts:

Avra Gibbs Lamey
Senior Communications and Media Relations Officer
Canadian War Museum
Telephone: 819-776-8607
avra.gibbs-lamey@warmuseum.ca

Patricia Lynch
Acting Director, Corporate Affairs
Canadian War Museum
Telephone: 819-776-8666
patricia.lynch@warmuseum.ca