BY ALEX TIGANI
Another chapter of Australian cinema was added near Denman this month.
The historic Pickering Homestead set the scene for the Jenny Hicks’ short film ‘The Stranger’ featuring Harry Greenwood (Hacksaw Ridge, The Nightingale), Fiona Press (Waiting) and Steve Bisley (Mad Max).
Hicks, who is now studying a two-year master’s degree in directing, was an editor in films such as Twin Peaks for David Lynch, all three of The Matrix films for the Wachowskis, The Last Samurai and Blood Diamond for Ed Zwick and The Thin Red Line for Terrence Malick.
She is now well into her directorial debut after concluding her five days of filming at the Homestead.
“As part of my degree I have to make a film so I wrote the story and wanted to set it in a rural place because that’s where my heart lies,” Hicks told The Hunter River Times.
“I actually have a little house up in Bunnan so I’m kind of a local.”
The short film is a psychological thriller centred around a stranger that arrives at an isolated farmhouse in the middle of the night who seeks to confront prejudices and stigma against people living with mental illness.
Yet the film needed the ideal setting.
So, Hicks put the message out to 1500 homes via Australia Post.
She then came across Donna and Gary Cooper who are the long-term custodians of the Pickering Homestead (near Denman) for Mangoola.
“I wanted people to be isolated in the story and I just happened to find the most glamourous isolated farmhouse in the whole Hunter Valley,” Hicks explained.
“As soon as I arrived, I thought ‘yes, this is it’ and also because Donna has such great largess and a warm personality; it has been an enjoyable experience.”
The crew were also greatly assisted by sponsors Coates Muswellbrook, Two Rivers Winery and Royal Hotel throughout the week.
“We also want to thank ‘Dutchy’ at Minemate for delivering the cherrypicker,” she concluded.
A screening of the film will take place at the Denman Town Hall in December (shortly after the film’s completion).
