Principal photography will begin in July on Darren K Hawkins’ The Girl in the Shadows, a regional indie mystery featuring Samm Cluff and Ric Herbert.
Set to be filmed across one month in the New England region of NSW, the feature centres on Shelley (Cluff), a small-town country cop who investigates the murder of a local reclusive hoarder, and is soon confronted with more bodies, all of which are seemingly connected to a hate crime that she and her physically impaired cousin Jennifer (Lauren Hamilton Neill) were the victims of in their youth.
Under pressure from her overbearing, antagonistic boss, Chubbick (Herbert), and with only the support of her new detective partner Simon Yang (Kaeng Chan), Shelley begins a slow descent into her own struggles with mental health, including PTSD, leading to her discover an explosive truth about the case.
The cast includes Gianna Aspencade, Monique Mercy, Freya Callaghan, Sami Walker, and Ruby Lott.
The Girl in the Shadows is the screenwriting debut of Stephen Knight, a New England local and former NSW police officer who will produce the film alongside Hawkins for Lonely Hill Films production. Casimir Dickson is on board as cinematographer.
Hawkins said the addition of Herbert was “the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle”.
“I can’t wait to start filming,” he said.
“Add Casimir Dickson as cinematographer, and I truly believe that we will have one truly stunning piece of Australian cinema.
“This week too, we have arranged for a Welcome to Country and Traditional Smoking Ceremony with an Indigenous leader in the region for our first day before we roll on a single frame.
“The businesses up in the New England area have also been fantastic – they are a godsend.”
The self-financed film will have a VOD release via Bounty Films.