DIMBOOLA film-maker Luke Launer’s film Snap Factory will be featured at this year’s Manhattan Film Festival in New York.
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Launer said his film was selected from almost 200 entries world-wide.
“I wasn’t expecting to be selected, it just came completely out of the blue,” he said.
“I got an email sent to me a few a weeks ago and I thought it was going to be another knock-back but it turned out to be a win.”
The film is an action thriller set in a mental institution run by ex-military staff who kidnap people from off the streets.
The victims are then put through a series of gruelling tests with the aim of creating the perfect soldier.
Launer said the inspiration for the eight-minute film came when he was working in a factory in Bendigo.
“I used to hate the job – it felt like a mental institution when I went there,” he said.
He said American director Michael Bay – who made The Rock, Transformers and Pearl Harbour – had been a significant influence on his film-making.
“I love films with impact,” he said.
“I love big explosions and in-your-face films – really gutsy films.
“I get a bit of a kick when something explodes, anything that gives you that adrenaline rush.
“I’ve done comedies and romance before but it doesn’t really gel with me – it’s boring in my opinion.
“I think you stick with what you’re good at.”
Launer said he hoped to be able to save enough money to attend the screening of his film at the festival in June.
“It’s a bit of a gamble industry,” he said.
“You make films that you love and you hope to hell other people love what they see as well.
“You’ve got to love what you do and I live for this every day.”
Launer is in the process of making a feature film based on Snap Factory.