Not just for petrol heads, this is the story of an iconic annual two-day race through Central Australia – ‘God’s Country’ – the 460km off-road Outback ordeal from Alice Springs south to the town of Finke and back. Gruelling and dangerous it certainly is, the track corrugations often like waves. But the mountains are timeless, the red desert aglow, the Finke the oldest river in the world. And the people too all shine through – the organisers and medics, the support crews, locals, families and spectators. There’s a Melbourne paraplegic focused on unfinished business, the professionals hellbent on winning, another competing with a broken hand. There’s the match-fit and the unfit, the rough-heads, rev-heads and party animals. For others it’s a tick on a bucket list held close to their hearts, for most a wild dream just to finish.

The production is bigger than Ben-Hur, the use of choppers a finely-honed military exercise, the editing difficult but sharp and clever. The director Dylan River has taken us on a wild and woolly ride here, a risky business, not sure at the start how it would end. And yet he has captured every bit of the tragedy, the thrills and spills, the humour and heartbreak, the pain and determination, the downright doggedness and the elation; all tempered by the fickle foibles of Lady Luck. River has succeeded landing the viewer right there in the thick of things, fixed to the edge of the seat, hoping, crying and laughing along with the combatants with the best and worst of the cards they are dealt, only pausing to wipe the red dust from eyes and mouth.

Sneak Peak | "Finke: There and Back"

Blood, sweat and tears shed across central Australia at the iconic Finke Desert Race, Australia’s fastest and deadliest off-road motorsport event.The Finke Desert Race Club are thrilled to be attending the Premiere Screening of the 'Finke: There and Back' Documentary at the Sydney Film Festival tomorrow night.Advance Screening Dates to be released soon. "Finke: There and Back", a Documentary on Australia's Ultimate Desert Race, Directed by Dylan River

Posted by Tatts Finke Desert Race on Thursday, 14 June 2018

 

*** Opening feature image from the film by Dylan River `Finke:There and Back’ 2018 ***


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