THE STREZ - An Adventure Documentary, but so much more
Two middle-aged brothers take their 70-year-old dad on an epic adventure across Australia's notorious Strzelecki Desert on adventure motorcycles in search of long lost family history.
They overcome extreme temperatures and challenging conditions, but a major accident leads to a unexpected discovery which changes the trip forever.
The story behind The Strez
My name is Joe Carter, and I'm a documentary film maker.
In early 2018, I was having coffee with my friends Chris and Justin Carter (they are brothers, and although I also have the same surname we are not related). They were telling me about an adventure they were planning with their 70-year-old father, Neville. Since we all work in the film and television industry, we decided to make a short motorcycle film of their trip. At the time we had no idea that this 'short' film would eventually become a feature-length documentary that would be screened to audiences in cinemas around the world!
We set off from Byron Bay on Australia’s East Coast, headed due west to Innamincka, and then tackled the infamous Strzelecki track through South Australia. The Strzelecki Track is known as one of the driest and loneliest desert tracks in outback Australia. The round trip would be almost 5,000 kilometres, and contrary to the conventional wisdom regarding the safest time to travel the track – as the majority of tourists and adventurers only attempt to cross Australia’s deserts in winter – the brothers chose to undertake their adventure in January during the middle of the harsh summer months, when desert temperatures average in the mid-40C’s (degrees Celsius). Consequently, the significant obstacles facing the team were the extreme heat, road conditions they would encounter, the sheer distance to be covered in a relatively short time frame, and the concerns held by the brothers regarding their 70-year-old father’s ability to sustain the trip and overcome the riding conditions.
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While we set out to make a motorcycle film, the final film is much more than any of us expected. The unanticipated events of the film resulted in a story of epic adventure, family, fire, injury, loss, discovery, and the closing of a circle on four generations of one family’s history. This unexpected and unplanned turn of events delivered a scene in which the two sons witnessed their own 70-year-old father tearfully describe his own sense of loss, and his yearning to be the father to his sons that his own father had not been able to be to him.
To add yet another twist, upon return from the expedition, Neville and his wife Jenny lost their family home and almost all of the historical photos and artefacts in the 2019 Nana Glen bushfire.
The Strez is an adventure film at heart, but it carries an emotional and heartbreaking climax which will fill viewers with inspiration and empathy. I hope you enjoy it, and make sure you watch it with your family - this is a story that loved ones will be touched by.
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- Joe Carter