Life Without Death

After his beloved grandfather had passed away, Canadian filmmaker Frank Cole decided to face death himself: all alone, he travelled straight across the Sahara desert, with a camel and a stock of food as his sole support. Via Mauritania, Mali, Niger and Chad, he hoped to reach the Red Sea - a distance of more than 6000 kilometres. The infernal expedition took months and Cole often got lost, because time and again his map turned out to be wrong. Setbacks were numerous: water sources had disappeared, sand storms rose, the camel passed out from exhaustion, brigands lay in wait and the Chad police suspected Cole of spying. The merciless sun not only split open the earth - which, by the way, results in magnificent images - but also Cole’s skin, which was in tatters in some places. The desert is almost lifeless; the few shrubs, beetles and scorpions compete in numbers with the skulls and skeletons of cattle and people. Despite the destructive nature of the desert, its beauty is indisputable; the slopes are perfect, the colours unreal, the panoramas endless. In this near-to-nothing landscape where life is unwanted, Cole tries to beat death, as he puts it himself. By entering into a direct confrontation with the shifting sand, he not only challenges death, but also celebrates life. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)