A chance find at a tip shop has left two Darwin creatives with more questions than answers.
Local filmmakers Matt Garrick and Mark Roy were on what Mr Garrick described as a "bit of a treasure hunt" for inspiration when they fell down a rabbit hole instead.
The duo unearthed a collection of more than 400 vintage matchboxes while they were sifting through items at the Shoal Bay tip.
The matchboxes were adorned with tropical images, logos and slogans from locations as far afield as Broome, the Gold Coast and Hong Kong.
And they turned out to be the perfect inspiration for the pair's 10-minute short film Sumatra, which is set around the same dingy seaside motels you might find on the matchboxes.
"There was an aura of old, tropical pubs or seedy bars and hotels to the matchboxes," Mr Garrick told ABC Radio Darwin's Liz Trevaskis.
"They were a veritable goldmine of creative juices," Mr Roy said.
The duo has dubbed the film a 'tropical noir' because of its use of grainy, black-and-white Super 8 film and shadowy locations.
The mystery of Peaches, the matchbox maiden
While the film has already embarked on the international festival circuit, the chance discovery has left the filmmakers with one loose end they still want to tie off.
Their film features a character named Peaches, based on an image on one of the matchboxes — but the character meets a fate that is anything but peachy.
"The thing that I've wondered about making this film, and since we kind of killed off Peaches, is 'Who was the real Peaches?'" Mr Garrick said.
The one clue the filmmakers had was the five-digit phone number on the inside of the matchbox.
The ABC called the number, but it was disconnected.
Audience members took to social media to offer their theories about the character's background.
"If I remember rightly, Peaches wasn't a person but an escort service in the late 1970s or early '80s. I could be wrong though," one said.
Sumatra screened at the Darwin International Film Festival and will travel to Cambodia next month.
Mr Garrick and Mr Roy are still keen to hear from anyone with information about the identity of its heroine.
