Wiradjuri man Jack Steele said growing up in Orange with fair skin gave him a "real identity problem".
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"I was told I should identify as a 'descendant of Aboriginal people'. I was told because I didn't look like I was Indigenous I shouldn't identify that way," Mr Steele said.
Luckily, his community had other ideas.
His mum, the CEO of the Aboriginal Land Council, Annette Steele, sat him down and told him the story of his great uncle Burt Ashmore, who had faced his own struggles with belonging.
Now grown up and working in the film industry in Sydney, Mr Steele has based the lead character of his first short film as writer and director on "Uncle Burt."
Debuting at the Sydney Film Festival, Behind Two Lines tells the fictional story of a Wiradjuri man joining the World War I war effort to "be respected as an Australian soldier, not just seen as a black fella".
Stranded in No Man's land, Burt meets a German soldier who has also become stuck. The two take cover in separate mortar holes but find themselves unable to kill each other. Forced to communicate to stay alive, the two form an unlikely bond.
Mr Steele said being picked up by the Sydney Film Festival as a first-time filmmaker could make his career.
"It's a really, really, big deal and one I'm really proud of and humbled by," he said.
Joining him on crew are a line up of Indigenous filmmakers and actors he began idolising as a 15-year-old projectionist at the old cinema on Lords Place.
Australian film director Warwick Thornton who's debut feature film Samson and Delilah won a Cannes Film Festival award saw the script and offered to shoot the film.
While actor Clarence Ryan, who featured in Wolf Creek, Wanted and Cleverman, will play the lead role.
Mr Steele said the film was made possible through $100,000 in funding from The Short Blacks film initiative from Screen Australia.
He said while Indigenous people are still under represented in the film makers, he owes where he's landed to "the giants" [including Warwick Thornton, Steven McGregor, Dena Curtis and Tanith Glynn-Maloney] who have "paved the way for people like me".
"They really fought the fight and made it possible. These people are the reason we have a blueprint to follow and discover our own voice."
Behind Two Lines will screen ahead of film Papi Chulo at Event Cinemas, Sydney, on Sunday.
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