And now for something completely different....
It’s finally finished! The feature length documentary film 'You Can’t Get There From Here'.
This project has been a labour of love and in support of causes that have become very close to our hearts. We would like to reach as wide an audience as possible, through film festivals, arts centres, schools and colleges to inform about the plight of the Saharawi people and promote the efforts of Sandblast Arts and Legs4Africa. You can support our film project by contributing to the film distribution costs, which include screening fees, film certification, and film festival fees.
This project has been a labour of love and in support of causes that have become very close to our hearts. We would like to reach as wide an audience as possible, through film festivals, arts centres, schools and colleges to inform about the plight of the Saharawi people and promote the efforts of Sandblast Arts and Legs4Africa. You can support our film project by contributing to the film distribution costs, which include screening fees, film certification, and film festival fees.
Contribute to our Film Project here:
Film Synopsis: 'You Can't Get There From Here'
An international team of 4 friends undertake the Plymouth to Dakar Challenge, a ‘banger rally’ which annually shadows the route of the Paris Dakar Rally. They acquire two old Mercedes vans and take a 3 week route through Spain, Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia. They arrange to transport prosthetic limbs for a Bristol based charity to a clinic in Gambia providing help to amputees. Interviewing a number of experts on the 30 year conflict between Morocco and the Saharawi natives, they arrange to meet with Saharawi ‘dissidents’ in the Western Sahara to expose their oppression by Moroccan authorities who they claim are occupying their land and profiting from their national resources. In doing so they evade detection and expulsion by Moroccan authorities and meet UN envoys who are overseeing the conflict. Struggling to get the vehicles to their destination, they team up with two adventurers driving a fire engine and a crazy Frenchman while crossing the minefields in the Sahara Desert. They encounter a diversity of landscapes, people and cultures enroute whilst exploring the nature of tourism, charity and how a disregard of human rights in favour of commercial interests threatens a new war in the Sahara desert.
An international team of 4 friends undertake the Plymouth to Dakar Challenge, a ‘banger rally’ which annually shadows the route of the Paris Dakar Rally. They acquire two old Mercedes vans and take a 3 week route through Spain, Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia. They arrange to transport prosthetic limbs for a Bristol based charity to a clinic in Gambia providing help to amputees. Interviewing a number of experts on the 30 year conflict between Morocco and the Saharawi natives, they arrange to meet with Saharawi ‘dissidents’ in the Western Sahara to expose their oppression by Moroccan authorities who they claim are occupying their land and profiting from their national resources. In doing so they evade detection and expulsion by Moroccan authorities and meet UN envoys who are overseeing the conflict. Struggling to get the vehicles to their destination, they team up with two adventurers driving a fire engine and a crazy Frenchman while crossing the minefields in the Sahara Desert. They encounter a diversity of landscapes, people and cultures enroute whilst exploring the nature of tourism, charity and how a disregard of human rights in favour of commercial interests threatens a new war in the Sahara desert.
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The Banjul or Bust Project: The Challenge
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The Banjul or Bust Film Project
This travelogue documents our journey from the UK to the Gambia with the Banjul Challenge 2018 and explores the human rights issues affecting the countries through which we travel.
The Banjul challenge is the longest banger rally in the world. Teams leave the UK every December and head south through Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania and Senegal, arriving in Banjul in The Gambia. The journey is approximately 3700 mile and crosses the Sahara desert. On arrival all the rally vehicles are auctioned in aid of the Gambian National Olympic Committee (GNOC) and the association of Small scale Enterprises in Tourism (ASSET) who each receive 20% of the funds raised and the balance is distributed among local small businesses, NGOs, schools, etc.
We have already made a video-van installation which was displayed at Hauser and Wirth Somerset 26th October 2018 alongside Ai Weiwei's documentary film "Human Flow" - we raised £500 for Amnesty International and The Banjul or Bust Project from this one event.
Having completed the Banjul Challenge, we hope to continue developing The Banjul or Bust Project by showing the resulting feature length documentary film "You Can't Get There From Here" in galleries, film festivals and street corners to continue raising awareness about the current human right issues affecting cultural minorities and displaced communities in the countries that we travelled through, and to continue raising funds for Sandblast Arts and Legs4Africa.
This travelogue documents our journey from the UK to the Gambia with the Banjul Challenge 2018 and explores the human rights issues affecting the countries through which we travel.
The Banjul challenge is the longest banger rally in the world. Teams leave the UK every December and head south through Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania and Senegal, arriving in Banjul in The Gambia. The journey is approximately 3700 mile and crosses the Sahara desert. On arrival all the rally vehicles are auctioned in aid of the Gambian National Olympic Committee (GNOC) and the association of Small scale Enterprises in Tourism (ASSET) who each receive 20% of the funds raised and the balance is distributed among local small businesses, NGOs, schools, etc.
We have already made a video-van installation which was displayed at Hauser and Wirth Somerset 26th October 2018 alongside Ai Weiwei's documentary film "Human Flow" - we raised £500 for Amnesty International and The Banjul or Bust Project from this one event.
Having completed the Banjul Challenge, we hope to continue developing The Banjul or Bust Project by showing the resulting feature length documentary film "You Can't Get There From Here" in galleries, film festivals and street corners to continue raising awareness about the current human right issues affecting cultural minorities and displaced communities in the countries that we travelled through, and to continue raising funds for Sandblast Arts and Legs4Africa.
The Story So Far......
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The Banjul or Bust Project: The Movie
We have spent the last 2 years editing hundreds of hours of film footage to create our short film, 'You Can't Get There From Here'. It is now in the final stages of post production... Watch this space for a release date! |
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March 2019, A postcard from the Gambia:
Having successfully completed the Banjul Challenge in January 2019, Daniel and the team delivered their cargo of prosthetic limbs for Legs4Africa and also donated both of their trusty vans to the amputee clinic in Banjul. We've just had an update on the vehicles and heard that Daniel's van is now being used for the mobile amputee clinic and for patient transport. The clinic sold Peter's van at auction raising £700 and the money has been allocated directly to the amputee support group for referral pathways and training. 
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Apart from some mechanical mishaps and cold nights in Morocco, all is well with the Banjul or Bust Project! The team made their way to Fes, across the Atlas Mountains to Marrakesh, down to Tan Tan, crossed the border into Western Sahara and onward passed the Tropic of Cancer. The long desert road took it's toll and the van finally broke down in Mauritania. But help was at hand and Daniel was towed for 200km to Nouakchott. Daniel and the team were last heard of awaiting a local mechanic in the Mauritanian city....
NEWS FLASH: From Mauritania onward through Senegal, The Banjul or Bust Project team has now successfully arrived in Banjul in the Gambia! Mission accomplished.... So far, the Banjul or Bust Project has raised over £3000 for charity. |
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Daniel set out to join the Banjul Challenge on Christmas night - some of you spotted the BBC news interview at Portsmouth Harbour on Boxing Day. The Banjul Challenge teams gathered in Tarifa in southern Spain and Daniel's team set sail for Africa on 30th December.
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We are very happy to announce our support for Legs4Africa.
We are transporting a cargo of prosthetic legs in aid of the Bristol based organisation Legs4Africa.
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Thank you to all friends who came to see our Video Van installation at Hauser & Wirth Somerset
on Friday 26th October 2018 alongside the screening of Ai Weiwei's film 'HUMAN FLOW'. It was a great success! we raised a further £500 for Amnesty International and The Banjul or Bust Project. |
See our adventures on our YouTube channel:
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"So off you go, have fun, be nice and stay cool. This ain't no package tour!!! It won't be easy. If you are a bit worried/scared/excited about what's ahead - GOOD! it's time to get serious. Be ready to think for yourself (and others) when things get difficult..." Opening paragraph of the Plymouth-Dakar road book.
Huge Thanks to everyone who has helped us along the road:
Andrew and Tanja at Parsonage Down Farm, Simon at Heytesbury Garage, Penny Nagle at Where West Begins, Lucy MacDonald at Hauser & Wirth Somerset, Olivia Clifton-Bligh, Charlotte Bevan and James Williams, Paul and Yvette at Langfords in Shaftesbury
Andrew and Tanja at Parsonage Down Farm, Simon at Heytesbury Garage, Penny Nagle at Where West Begins, Lucy MacDonald at Hauser & Wirth Somerset, Olivia Clifton-Bligh, Charlotte Bevan and James Williams, Paul and Yvette at Langfords in Shaftesbury
Daniel Petkoff 01985 212 716 info@yogapod.co.uk
