Following the death of his grandfather, documentary filmmaker Frank Cole decided to take an arduous 4,400-mile, year-long solo trip across the Sahara desert. Alone with his camels and an old Bolex camera set on a timer to capture his journey, he grapples with deadly heat, shifting sands, bandits, civil war, unreliable maps, confusion, and loneliness. The film intercuts color footage that chronicles the progression of his trek with sudden, black-and-white scenes of his grandfather’s deathbed. The score by Richard Horowitz, with ethereal vocals by Sussan Deyhim, provides striking contrast to the cool objectivity of this “anti-travelogue.”