The Last Night, a short film by WIFT member and Producer Wanda Lepionka won Best Cinematography at The Veterans Film Festival in Canberra on Remembrance Day, 11 November 2015.
Filmed in Wellington by CraftInc. Films and written and directed by David Strong. The Last Night is a dramatic story of a young New Zealand peacekeeper in Afghanistan as he struggles to convince an Afghan warlord not to shell a village and massacre its people.
The Last Night has travelled the world, starting its festival run at the Cannes FIlm Festival (Short Film Corner) in 2014 and has since been in eight international film festivals, nominated three times at the NZ Film Awards 2014, won a Festival Director's Award and a Best Short Film Award in the United States.
Producer Wanda Lepionka said that the Veterans Film Festival was an important festival as it showcases films about serving and ex-serving military personnel, their families and the impact war has on society. "We wanted the film to represent a real perspective on what war means to those caught up in its wake. We're thankful to all our cast, crew and sponsors who believed in the project. Also thanks to all the many international film festivals who understood its powerful message and shared it with their audiences. It's enabled us to create more stories".