War Amps Vignette on Canadian Army Film Unit Wins Gold at U.S Film Festival

May 25, 2011 - A War Amps video vignette about the Canadian Army Film Unit in the Second World War has won a Gold Award at the recent WorldFest-Houston Film Festival in Texas.

The two-minute production tells the story of the combat cameramen of the Canadian Army Film Unit, who were soldiers first as they followed the infantry into the thick of battle to capture the action with their 35 millimetre movie cameras. Their heroic efforts enabled them to scoop the international press on the major events in Europe including the invasion of Sicily and the top story of the century - D-Day. The famous scenes of Canadians landing on Juno Beach were the first motion pictures the world would see of the D-Day invasion.

The vignette has been distributed to regular and specialty television channels across Canada and can be viewed at waramps.ca/military/canr.html and on The War Amps YouTube channel.

Last year, The War Amps (in cooperation with Library and Archives Canada and veterans of the Film Unit) also made the complete set of The Canadian Army Newsreels available to the public for the first time as part of its Military Heritage Series. Interest has been renewed with the WorldFest-Houston Award and the upcoming 67th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

Like all War Amps productions, The Canadian Army Newsreels set (6 DVDs featuring 106 newsreels) was funded by corporate donations. It is available to the public at a cost-recovery price of $30 (including DVD guide) by calling toll-free 1 800 250-3030 or at waramps.ca.

- 30 -

For More Information

Danita Chisholm
Executive Director, Communications 
1 877 606-3342
communications@waramps.ca