Notes from the director of Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, Glendyn Ivin.
The hypnotising new Amazon series The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, based on Holly Ringland’s novel of the same name, captures some of the Northern Territory’s most stunning natural landscapes to tell its story. The Red Centre has no shortage of dramatic backdrops, stunning waterholes, and breathtaking open spaces, each with its own secrets to explore. It’s the ideal setting to tease out Alice’s mysteries in this original and evocative on-screen drama. Director Glendyn Ivin reflects on the unforgettable experience of filming on location.
“I had always expected to see red earth in all directions, leading off to the horizon, but when I arrived, I was blown away by how much colour and vibrancy there was in the landscape”.
He gives us eight indisputable reasons to take in the scenery, both on his new Amazon series and by visiting some of the incredible locations showcased in his scenes.
1. The landscape is an epic backdrop
Whether it’s the scale or the colour, the rugged land or the open sky, these are landscapes that inspire storytelling.
“One thing that struck me was how unique the landscape was. It doesn’t look like anywhere else in the world”.
The scenery offers the ability to bring Holly’s evocative descriptions of unique, imagined places to life. They really do exist out here in central Australia.
“Scouting locations is one of my favourite parts of production. Driving around, and just seeing a place for the first time, that first impression is so important. Does it capture your imagination? Does it inspire only what’s on the pages of the script, or does it show something more?”
In the case of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, the Red Centre delivered inspiration in droves.
“I would find a location, photograph it and then take the images back to screenwriter Sarah Lambert and ask her to write scenes based around what I had found. I love this way of working and the Northern Territory gave us so many things that we never imagined we would find. I tried to shoot in as many places as our schedule would allow. We managed to thread a lot of different places into the script and onto the screen”.
2. Nature is part of the story
The Red Centre has its own history, character, and twists that lends itself to storytelling in a way that makes it so much more than just a setting. In the series, Alice uncovers secrets within secrets, and they echo tangibly through the landscape.
“My first memory of arriving in Alice Springs was that it had rained recently, so there was more water around and the red earth was surprisingly green”.
It’s moments like this, and the native flora and fauna that come with it, that express the inexpressible and show the unknowable. The story of Alice is raw, emotional, sweeping, dramatic, and enthralling. It demanded a setting that itself embodies these characteristics, and the Northern Territory delivered in droves.
“Nature and its healing power is a recurring theme throughout the series. The landscapes in The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart are more than just postcards, they’re humbling. They provide a spiritual and psychological stage for the cast to bring their characters to life”.
3. Standley Chasm
Just over a half hour drive from Alice Springs, enveloped in the West MacDonnell Ranges National Park, stands the breathtaking Standley Chasm Angkerle Atwatye. It’s an opportunity to embrace the energy of significant cultural presence in the narrow “Gap of Water” between two 80m sheer red rockfaces.
“Standley Chasm is a special place. It brings dramatic scale to the screen. The narrow but towering gorge provided a naturally stunning place for Alice to explore”.
Walking along the natural creek bed to the chasm, it’s easy to put yourself in the shoes of a director. A director becoming entranced and inspired by the fanciful birds, flowers, and other wildlife living seemingly in stark contrast to the rugged landscape.
4. Ormiston Gorge
A trip to Ormiston Gorge is an invitation to travel back to prehistoric ages. Lying a little further into West MacDonnell Ranges National Park, there are plants and animals still living here that were very nearly forgotten by time. Life here is sustained by a waterhole that is full nearly the whole year through and reaches 14m at its deepest.
“Ormiston Gorge is a beautiful water hole. I was surprised to find so much water there. I loved watching the cast and crew arrive on the day of filming and take it all in. They all had huge smiles on their faces, and we all went swimming before and after shooting”.
Surrounded by towering walls of rock, the magnitude of this place can only truly be appreciated on the scenic three to four hour walk that crosses both the rocky slopes of the gorge and the burnt orange flats of the pound.
“The scale of red and yellow rock cliffs provides breathtaking scale when you put actors in the frame”.
5. Ooraminna & Undoolya Stations
“We shot a few different sequences at Ooraminna and Undoolya Stations”.
Both family-owned stations, these locations give visitors a taste of the charm, history, and authenticity of the Australian Outback lifestyle.
“These incredibly beautiful and large open spaces provided a variety of shooting locations. We used both locations for different parts of the fictional ‘Mia Tukurta National Park’ we created for the series. We were able to create sequences that felt incredibly remote but all within a short drive from Alice Springs. We also shot elements of the landscape to form part of the extensive CGI work to create our fictional ‘crater’”.
6. Simpsons Gap
Within biking distance from Alice Springs, Simpsons Gap is a powerfully spiritual site known as Rungutjirpa to the Arrernte Aboriginal people. Ancient ghost gums, mulga, and other rare and relict flora line several walking trails.
“I really loved the energy here and visited it many times”.
To soak up the energy, you can camp overnight, looking for Black-footed Rock-wallabies visiting the gap at dawn and dusk, and see the stars framed by the impressive rocky slopes.
“Simpsons Gap provided another dramatic landscape for a sequence where Alice and Dylan go camping. It’s the scale of the rock formations that take my breath away”.
7. The more you see, the more you want to see
“The desert requires you to slow down and observe both inward and outwardly.”
These places are unique in the power they have to change something deep inside you. There’s a certain magnetism to the environment. Once you get a taste of the magic, you will want to drink in as much as you possibly can.
“I really fell in love with the timelessness and the expanse of the landscape”.
It’s something to be shared, whether by creating a breath-taking series, or by exploring it in person.
“At the end of filming, my wife Natalie and our two children arrived and we went on a week-long road trip. I really wished I had visited and saw central Australia much earlier in my life and I wanted my (teenage) kids to experience it. It was a special trip for all of us”.
8. NT will stay in your memory
The landscapes conjure up emotions that wash over you and engulf your whole being from the first moment to the last.
“When I first arrived, I did a week-long road trip taking in a lot of different locations. One day we drove out along Larapinta Drive and looped back via Ormiston Gorge, I think it’s one of the most stunning drives I have ever done. I had never seen anything like it. We went out to Kings Canyon, which really blew my mind”.
You’re free out here to immerse yourself in a truly dramatic natural environment, and the feelings and impressions you come away with are strong enough to stay with you long after your stay is over.
“We were fortunate to work with traditional Tnoralla owner Maxine Malbunka on the series. Sitting on the red dirt in the middle of the crater listening to Maxine share stories is an experience I will never forget”.
