THE STORY:
The story follows a group of unlikely travelers as they travel overland to the Sahara on three separate trips. Along their route they learn as much about themselves as the people they meet. The film explores a collision of cultures; all the more revealing in light of the Arab Spring. Set against incredible landscapes in Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Libya, yet shot upon consumer video cameras, this documentary shows the Sahara in a way that is rarely depicted onscreen.
HISTORY:
I was originally invited to travel overland to Morocco by by Paul Hazell in February 2005, which was in the middle of preparations for Peppermint. The opportunity was so great that I found ways to make it happen; made easier by the fact that Paul was my boss at the time!
I produced a film at the end of it called Me, My Boss, A Farmer & His Son. The title referred to the fact that our travel partners were Martin Robinson (a farmer no less) and his son Jack. I didn’t really promote the film too much but was still invited back for a second journey in April 2007 – this time to Libya and Tunisia. I made a film out of that trip too, called Never Mind Gaddafi – Here’s the Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. The title wasn’t too catchy but it got some interest, mostly from radio talk shows who wanted to talk about Gaddafi, despite the title of the film clearly pointing out had little to do with Gaddafi!
The third trip was to Tunisia and Algeria in 2010 (just in the run up to filming The Ballad of Des & Mo). It was only a few months after we returned from the journey that Tunisia and Libya were embroiled with the Arab Spring. I decided to recut the three journeys into one story that jumps in time and location, to try and show a different perspective of the region than the news footage of the Arab Spring. The film was marginally more successful this time, screening at a few festivals including MENAR (Middle East & North Africa Region) in Sofia, Bulgaria.