LAST YEAR we reported that Canberra’s Yowie Productions were set to release their short film “The White Feather” and now producer Marie Gheebrant-Anderson tells us, they’ve won first prize in the “Burn by Night” Film Festival at Goulburn.

“The White Feather”, the winner by a large margin, is set in Bungendore, Sydney and Flanders and tells “a patriotic tale of passion and betrayal, and moves between Australia and the European war front”. With authentic costumes and local settings like Kenmore Hospital in Goulburn, Calthorpe’s House and Lanyon Homestead in Canberra, it was judged to have resonated with the local community and the WW1 impact on lives in the festival audience’s grandparents’ generation.

As Gheebrant-Anderson told “CityNews” last year, “the young ones want to see any films on WW1/ Gallipoli that are relevant, the older group are keen to revisit the era.”

The story of “The White Feather” begins during October, 1914 in Bungendore, New South Wales, where the two Ellis brothers from Shelbourne, the biggest local sheep station, are in love with the two daughters of the local doctor. After various romantic twists in the plot the two brothers, Albert and Eddie, goes off to the war, and what follows borders on tragedy.

Director and writer Laurence de B. Anderson is a doctor, an exhibiting visual artist for more than 30 years, and the author of several books. Among the other creatives were Miguel P Gallagher, Director of Photography, Patrick J Gallagher, 1st Assistant Director and Rohan Dadswell, Gaffer /Lighting.

Yowie Productions are now in early discussions for a full feature.

“The White Feather” is available for purchase on DVD. Details at facebook.com/whitefeathermovie.org