Fallen, written and directed by Grace Griffith, is a Gold Remi winner in the historical short film category of the 53^rd WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival, in Houston, Texas.

Set in World War I, the film was among thousands of entries from 76 countries in the 2020 awards, which have been announced despite the festival itself being postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Griffith, who grew up in Wandiligong, said news of the Gold Remi award was "astonishing".

"These international festivals are highly competitive, so just to have reached finalist status was a dream come true," she said.

"I'm over the moon. It's rewarding to have mine and my team's hard work over the last four years recognised."

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Originally a film society, WorldFest evolved into a competitive international film festival in 1968. The festival has 12 major competitions and more than 200 subcategories. Only 15 to 20 per cent of entries receive a high enough score from the juries to earn an award.

Griffith began Fallen as a final year assignment as part of her Bachelor of Film and Television at Swinburne University, but it soon became a much larger project.

"I've always had a fascination with wartime stories and films, but it was a trip to Berlin, Germany, in 2016 that really got the cogs turning," she said.

"I was completely staggered to see so many old buildings in Berlin dappled with bullet holes and shell explosions, left over from World War II."

Back home, she saw the Myrtleford statue of Sergeant Albert David Lowerson.

"I started researching him and decided to set my film against the backdrop of the battle of Mont St Quentin, the battle he fought in and was awarded the Victoria Cross for," Griffith said.

In Fallen, a captain tumbles into a trench with a serious bullet wound, which a shaken private tends to while the men share details of their lives in Australia.

Griffith said the hills and foliage at her parents' property in Wandiligong best resembled the landscape of Mont St Quentin, plus she wanted to shoot locally because of the tie to Sergeant Lowerson.

"We had a trench constructed on my parents' property for the three-day shoot in September 2017 and shot in minus three degree temperatures most nights, starting at sun down and filming through to sun up," she said.

Fallen will continue on the festival circuit overseas and in Australia for the next 12 months before being available for public viewing.

Griffith now works in Traralgon as a freelance writer and journalist.

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