It’s a long way from Avignon to Ballarat, but Nicolas Hinze takes the protagonist of his short film Crossroads much further on a journey of internal terror and external threat.
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The local filmmaker wrote, directed, produced and funded his second film, which stars PiaGrace Moon and Troy Davis. Filming took place in the desert around Silverton in far west NSW.
It portrays the terrifying experience of a young unnamed girl in the Outback, encountering characters who both menace her and offer her salvation.
“We don’t know much about her,” says Mr Hinze.
“She’s running away from something; she’s dropped off in the middle of nowhere on a deserted flat road. The people she meets are very intimidating and hard to trust.”
Mr Hinze said wanted to create suspense in the film by maintaining doubt.
One of the inspirations for the film was the Australian classic of the 1970s Wake in Fright, and the apocalyptic works of Cormac McCarthy.
“I love it when a film forces me to think, to focus. I wanted the audience to constantly question the motives behind each character’s actions,” he said.
The 18 minute short film has been selected to make its NSW premiere at the Flickerfest International Short Film Festival in Sydney in January.
It has already been featured in the St Kilda Film Festival and the Austin Short Film Fest in Texas.
Mr Hinze, 36, came to Australia from France 12 years ago, and is now a citizen of Australia.
He says he collaborated with people from Ballarat to work on the film.
“Sam Brown from Morgan Creatives designed a prop whiskey label and Luke Keys from Mass Motion helped me with titling. He and his team designed my production company animated logo,” said Mr Hinze.
Funding the film was a personal struggle, and Mr Hinze was forced to rely on his own money to raise the $20,000 needed to make the shoot possible. But he was enervated by the process, he said.
“Making this film was one of the most exciting and rewarding experiences of my life. From scouting and storyboarding to the final mix, I got to work with passionate, generous and extremely talented people, said Mr Hinze.
“Every one volunteered their time and energy, and I am immensely grateful.”
Mr Hinze says he now wants to develop the short into a feature film called Running Girl.
