A UNIVERSITY of Worcester student's story is to be made into a feature-length film.

White Raven Films are set to start shooting ‘A Gift From War’, written by Andrew Owens, in April next year.

The film is about a former soldier troubled by his experiences in Afghanistan, who discovers salvation by saving his dead friend's sister from a life of domestic abuse.

Mr Owens, aged 42, said: "I feel very excited about this project.

"I had never imagined that I would have the opportunity to write a film script.

"I had always pictured myself as a writer of short stories and novels.

"White Raven Films have also asked me to be on set for filming.

"I can hardly wait to see a story of mine being made into a film."

Mr Owens was born in Toronto, grew up on a farm in Cookstown, Ontario and moved to Worcester in May 1996.

He was approached by independent production company White Raven Films after he was involved in an earlier documentary.

"White Raven Films were filming a documentary of the Boars Head Pub in Kidderminster," Mr Owens explained.

"Heather Wastie, who organises a poetry, music and spoken word event there, put my name forward as someone they should use in the documentary.

"I met with them and I recited a poem I’d written, which they subsequently used in their documentary.

“They then asked me if I would be interested in writing a feature length film for them.

"I accepted and wrote the first eleven pages for them to read.

"We met again, they loved what I’d written and asked me to write the rest of the script.

"On reading the completed script, they informed me that it would be commissioned and that they intend to start filming in April 2015."

Mr Owens, a former toolmaker, is currently in the second year of a joint honours degree in creative writing and screenwriting.

His work has attracted a great deal of attention in recent years.

A collection of his short stories ‘Portraits of Prose’ have been released by Black Pear Press.