Hill’s ‘The Desert Knows Her Name’ to be adapted for film

Playwright, filmmaker and Wotjobaluk and Ngarrindjeri woman Tracey Rigney has acquired film rights to The Desert Knows Her Name (Affirm, 2024) by Lia Hills.

Rigney acquired the rights through her role as co-manager of Pink Lake Creative, a collaborative social enterprise and production company based in Wimmera, where Hills’ novel is set.

The novel follows a young girl who walks out of the desert and finds refuge with Beth, a farmer attempting to help her family farm grow. The girl’s arrival unsettles the community.

The Desert Knows Her Name ‘speaks to a deep longing for connection with the land – and the silences that persist in contemporary Australia,’ said the publisher.

Rigney said, ‘I first met Lia when she was coming up to my mother’s Country to immerse herself in her process for her novel. I was struck by her way of storytelling and admired the respectful approach she undertook – even though she is a Pakeha from New Zealand. When I finally got my signed copy of the book, I devoured it and really could visualise it as this is the Country I grew up on and live on.

‘It only makes sense for me to bring this important story to life on screen as a filmmaker. Lia and I have forged a really great friendship, and I think that’s what is at the heart of storytelling – the way in which it brings and unites voices together for a common purpose beyond who we are as people.’

Hills said, ‘That such an important filmmaker as Tracey Rigney is looking to adapt The Desert Knows Her Name, set on her Country, is something I could never have imagined when I began this work. It feels like the best way this journey could’ve continued. Stories deeply connected to place raise questions about how those places have been storied as part of the colonial project and the necessity of challenging those historical narratives. Collaboration between First Nations and non-Indigenous writers can only help deepen this conversation.’

Category: Local news Rights and acquisitions