Narrandera film production When the House Is Empty has wrapped up another shoot in Narrandera in January and has reached the final stages of filming.

It was a busy start to the year for all those involved in the upcoming locally made film with all the cast and crew members gathered in Narrandera earlier this month for a week of filming.

Director Tim Hills said the local community also participated in response to the crews call out for extras.

“It was great, as always the town all turned up, keeping to the story that working in regional Australia is certainly a dreamscape for film people and I’m hoping more people do it,” he said.

“If we keep showing people that this is a great place to shoot, hopefully they’ll keep coming out to the Riverina area.”

The most recent shoot was to capture the second part of the second act which is set in Summer.

The narrative of the film unfolds across the four seasons, with shooting beginning last year in the midst of Autumn and to end in Spring.

It follows a young woman who embarks on a journey of self-discovery to find out who she really is and what she wants and encounters trouble along the way.

Although it is based on the director’s own story, it is a journey of discovery that many people can relate to.

Director Tim Hills commented on the challenging nature of filming and how much easier it is with a cast and crew who work together so well.

“It was really challenging as always but it also went really smoothly; whenever any problems happened it seemed to just sort out because of the strong connection of the crew and everyone working together,” he said.

“We didn’t know how it would unfold, we’ve never done something of this capacity so we are really quite pleased with how it has all come together… even though it’s a simple story, there is just so much you have to cover and we just got lost in the filmmaking.”

The whole production has been a massive community effort, pulling together people from Narrandera, Leeton, Sydney and Brisbane and although it is independent with no funding, many have offered their talents and abilities for the love of creating.

For Director Tim Hills, he hopes that the result will be a movie that he can personally enjoy even if many don’t.

“It may really suck what we’re doing but we’re doing our best, we’re aiming high and then we’ll pull everything together and see if we have a film there,” he said

“Everyone is always talking about the target audience but my only target audience is me; I want to make an hour and a half movie that I would watch and it has lots of slowness and tensity and landscapes and staying true to that, not cowing to the tenor of the world around you saying “you have to have your target audience”, “you gotta make it politically correct” and all of that.”

It is now in the final stages of filming with only one more major shoot scheduled to happen in March before it undergoes the editing process.

This article appeared in the Narrandera Argus, 25 January 2024.

Related stories: ‘When the house is empty’ planning next shoot, Filming to start in Narrandera, Movie-making returns