'Love's Brother' wins Heartland Film Festival

Love's Brother, a romantic drama set in Australia, won the US$50,000 ($72,317) grand prize at the Heartland Film Festival in Indianapolis.

Director Jan Sardi and actor Adam Garcia accepted the prize during a gala night. The festival honours film-makers who create movies that portray positive, life-affirming messages.

"What I am always looking for as a writer and film-maker is time to do the sort of stories that are important to me, and those stories aren't always the sort of no-brainers that studios want to develop and throw money at," said Sardi, the Oscar-nominated writer of the screenplay for Shine.

Garcia and Giovanni Ribisi portray two Italian immigrant brothers struggling to build new lives in post-World War II Australia, and one will not marry his girlfriend until the other finds a mail-order bride.

"It's really sweet and, for me, it's a very sedate and staid performance," Garcia said.

"More importantly, it inspired me to the world of independent films."