Into the Empty Quarter

Wilfred Thesiger was one of Britain's great explorers and writers. His greatest journeys were through the world's largest sand desert: the Empty Quarter of the Arabian Peninsula. Inspired by their hero, adventurers Alastair Humphreys and Leon McCarron attempt a journey of their own into the Empty Quarter. Their trip is hastily-planned and low budget: unable to afford camels they instead hope to drag a homemade steel cart (filled with 300kg of supplies) through the ferocious desert heat. This film is their story.

Alastair and Leon's experiences differ vastly from Thesiger's: the oilfields, the decadence of an occasional cold Pepsi and the madness of the duo's chosen end point are all unlikely to have impressed Major Sir Wilfred Patrick Thesiger, CBE, DSO, FRAS, FRGS. Yet though much has changed, much remains the same. The heat; the hunger and thirst; the dunes and the plains; the silence and the nights filled with stars; the local hospitality: all this Alastair and Leon shared with Thesiger on their 1000 mile trek across the Arabian Peninsula. Into the Empty Quarter is a very modern telling of a classic travel story. (official distributor synopsis)