Bruce Beresford, Michael Schwarz and Matt Nable.

Matt Nable’s gritty and bloody new Australian film Transfusion has won the prestigious Howard Frank Van Norton Award for Best Film at the International Veterans Film Festival.

Selected by the Jury which included Jury Chair Bruce Beresford, Lisa Hoppe, Jenni Baird, Alan Dukes, Julie Kalceff, Cameron Patrick, Petra Salsjo and Gus O’Brien-Cavanough, Transfusion was selected for Best Film alongside other Red Poppy Award winners including Sam Worthington for best Actor, Thomas Brouns for Best Student Film The Search and Nick Barkla who won the The Beyond Blue Award for Best Film Reflecting Hope and Resilience for his film, The Healing.

The coveted Red Poppy Awards, titled after the war poem In Flanders Field, written during the First World War by Canadian physician Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae, saw films from 14 countries in competition across the four day festival.

Writer, director and actor Matt Nable and producers Michael Schwarz and John Schwarz collected the $10,000 prize for the Best Film Award. The film’s star, Sam Worthington was awarded Best Actor.

Transfusion follows a former Special Forces operative (Worthington) who is thrust into the criminal underworld to keep his only son from being taken from him. Stan will release Transfusion in early 2023.

The Awards have been presented annually, except for a COVID break, since 2015. The last time the Awards were held in 2020 the Best Feature was won by Ukrainian drama U311 Cherkasy and Best Short was awarded to Australian entry Trust Frank. Previous winners here.

Private Howard Frank Van Norton was a veteran of the US Army in WW2 and is the late father of the Veterans Film Festival leading patron Kay Van Norton Poche. Private Howard Frank Van Norton was born in 1925 and passed in 2012.

He landed in France on 8 June 1944, two days after the main D-Day landings. During the Allied advance through France he was shot in the back by the enemy while repairing communication lines. Wounded, he continued to repair the wiring until communication was restored to his Unit. For that action he was awarded a silver star and the Purple Heart. After the war Howard continued his service to others in the community all his life.

Stan will release Transfusion in early 2023.