University of North Carolina Wilmington faculty member Chip Hackler’s short film, “Two Hours in the Dark,” was chosen as the Jury Award winner for Best Short at the 2010 Charleston International Film Festival in April.

It’s one of many recent honors garnered by the 35-minute film about an inspirational moment in the life of famed director Frank Capra.

“I couldn’t be happier,” said Hackler, an associate professor in the UNCW Film Studies Department.

Hackler recently received other good news. “Two Hours in the Dark” played at the Alabama International Film Festival in late April and received the Judge’s Award for best film.

The film will also be shown this fall at the Napa Sonoma Wine Country Film Festival in California, and at the upcoming  Spirit Quest Film Festival in Erie, Pa.

“I’m very happy about that because those are the kinds of films that Capra made,” Hackler said.

“Two Hours in the Dark” is “an inspirational film about an inspirational filmmaker,” he said.

The film depicts a critical event in the life of Capra that triggered his transition from directing screwball comedies to creating socially conscious dramas like “It’s a Wonderful Life.” It’s based on a dark period in Capra’s life when the director spiraled into a deep depression after winning the Oscar for the comedy “It Happened One Night.”

Hackler shot most of the film in 2008 in Wilmington and South Carolina. He produced it with assistance from the Capra family. Frank Capra Jr., who was instrumental to the growth of the movie industry in Wilmington, read the script before his death in late 2007.

Hackler said he was trying to find out what motivated Frank Capra to make the powerful films he did. “It’s A Wonderful Life” is ranked the top inspirational movie of all time by the American Film Institute.

“Two Hours in the Dark” previously won the 2009 Fiction Juried Screening Award at the University Film and Video Association conference in New Orleans, and has screened at Wilmington’s Cucalorus Film Festival and the Asheville Film Festival.

The film has also been accepted for screening at Utah’s Red Rock Film Market and the East Carolina Film Festival.

Hackler hopes the film will eventually be included in the “It’s A Wonderful Life” DVD package sold at retail outlets.

“If the film could get on the DVDs, at least part of the proceeds could go to the Frank Capra, Jr. Scholarship in Film Studies (at UNCW),” he said.

Area residents have several opportunities to see the film in upcoming months. “Two Hours in the Dark” will be screened June 18 on the Battleship North Carolina with the Capra classic, “It Happened One Night,” and Aug. 29 as part of the summertime Carolina Beach Movies on the Lake series with Capra’s film, “Mr. Deeds Comes to Town.”

For more information about “Two Hours in the Dark,” visit www.twohoursinthedark.org.