“The Pines Still Whisper” Wraps Up Filming In Hamilton Township

An independent film wrapped up production in Hamilton Township just north of Cobourg recently.

The film titled, “The Pines Still Whisper is a independent, non-union production which was filmed in primarily two locations – Marmora and in Hamilton Township.

For the last several days ending on July 30, 2021 the location for the 30 member, mostly volunteer crew were filming at was the Hie property located on Danforth Road West and Division Street North.

Several members of the film crew graciously gave their time for an interview with Today’s Northumberland.

Jamie Knox is the writer/director, Raj Paul is the writer/associate producer and in charge of casting for the film, Danielle Nicole-Lee is the producer/story editor and British actress India Shaw-Smith plays the lead role of Penny.
Know said its about the relationship between a daughter and her mother in a post-apocalyptic world.

The pair are living in the wilderness in a cabin when the collapse of civilization occurs things change with the relationship.

“It’s about a mother and the relationship with her daughter and her daughter seeking her own freedom.”

Knox said he would describe it as a dark, fairy-tale, thriller.

“It’s ultimately a family story that has some thrilling moments.”

Knox said the movie came about in reality because of COVID.

“The quarantine hit the March 2020 and I was bored and unsure of what to do.”

Knox along with two other co-writers started watching classic movies from other countries.

Some of the people involved were in the film industry, while others weren’t necessarily happy with the jobs they had.

Knox had a 30-page script, but soon collaborated with two people in to expand the project.

“That spiraled to meeting up on Zoom for about five-hours-a-day for a month.”

By the time the month was done they had a full draft script.

Knox then spoke with Nicole-Lee who he knew from the industry.

At the time they thought it would cost approximately $10,000 and they could go out with friends and create the movie.

“Slowly as we got more people involved and the drafts changed. We had gone through about 10 different drafts and it was a very different film then we started.”

Slowly came together.

“It became something we never imagined within a year.”

“It’s definitely a ride. It’s like a moving train going down the tracks and not stopping. No matter what happens it’s not stopping. If you’re feeling bad one day or out of it another day, there is no choice. You just have to keep going.”

“We have unbelievably talented actors on this and just great human beings in general.”

“It’s stressful, it’s intense, but it’s what I want to do for the rest of my life.”

Paul said the 300 acre Hie property is a “dream” because numerous scenes can be filmed at various locations on the property including the creek, farm, or in the house.

“We’ve been really blessed with a lot of things on this project including the locations.

For the most part, Paul said the weather held up other than the first day there was a “mammoth storm.”

“We were in the forest doing an intense combat scene where there was some very significant moments for our characters and all of a sudden the lightning comes, the sky opens.”

But Paul said it was a “team building moment and set the tone for the rest of the project.”

Shooting the film was done for the day because of the bad weather, but Paul said they got caught up by working long hours the following days.

On July 30 a scene was shot in the early evening with a small campfire scene around a trailer with the two main actors in the evening the final scene with a much larger fire with all the characters around it singing a eerily catchy tune.

Paul and Knox grew up as friends public school before embarking on different directions that involved the film industry.

“I came from an acting background and Jamie had all the film connections and the marriage of those two worlds has been one of the strengths of our collaboration along with Danielle with the production side.”

Casting for the movie was done by looking through hundreds of profiles of actors, then following it up by interviews.

“We had the idea of these characters in our head, but sometimes the characters weren’t defined by one gender or one race, so it really opened it up and cast the best people for the part.”

Nicole-Lee said initially the project was self-funded, but they soon realized it was going to be much bigger and would require big bucks.

It’s through crowd funding, investors and people who believed in the project that helped the film reach this stage.

“It’s been wild. It’s the craziest thing I’ve ever done.”

“It’s going to be a long journey, but we have a great editor who is going to handle the bulk of the edits. It’s going to be a long process so we won’t have the film even our crew and cast until next summer.”

A relatively new organization that is catching on in the film industry is the Intimacy Coordinator.

Paul said organizations such as Intimacy Coordinators Canada gained momentum with the Me Too Movement.

They are there as an independent organization to protect actors and make sure everything goes as planned with nudity or intimate scenes.

“We worked with them before we were shooting, during shooting and they made everything so much easier. It took the pressure off us dealing with that subject delicate matter and allowed us to all get what we want for the story and the characters while keeping everyone safe.”

The two people with the company even enhanced scenes with their ideas.

“Something that could have been difficult and hard for the whole team was seamless.”

While other companies are slowly coming on board with a Intimacy Coordinator, they felt it was strongly important for the actors to feel comfortable.

“We thought it would be better to have their expertise and I’m so glad we did,” said Paul.

Shaw-Smith plays the lead role of Penny said the character grew up in a cabin for 15-years. At approximately 19-years-old, Penny has lived her entire live in isolation with her mother, but she slowly starts to question the world around her and things she’s been told.

Shaw-Smith said the role was “very intense in a amazing way.”

“Lots of stunts, lots of high emotions, high stakes and having to sustain that for a long period of time.”

With the Intimacy Coordinator coming on board, Shaw-Smith said it made her feel much more comfortable.

“As an actor, these moments can feel a bit exposing and you feel very vulnerable.”

At times previously, Shaw-Smith said an intimacy scene can be “theoretical” and almost make it up as you go.

“But to have the professionals there and be able to explain exactly how things were going to go almost as if it were a stunt or dance work.”

Having the Intimacy Coordinators as part of the production made it much easier and less pressure to do the story justice.

“I personally found it easier,” said Shaw-Smith.

In various scenes she is intimate with Harris Bailey and having the Intimacy Coordinators on set made sure, “there was no confusion or misunderstanding about what might happen.”

“We knew exactly what physical action might play out and then we could endow it with the emotion and intimacy and let it unfold.”

“It was immensely liberating.”

The film is intended to be sent off to film festivals in 2022.