Sofiane Sehili is a professional ultra-cyclist, considered one of the strongest endurance riders in the world, and, unfortunately, the protagonist of a misadventure that happened during his attempt to break the world record for crossing Eurasia.

This project was born almost by chance. It all started with a phone call from my friend, photographer Edoardo Frezet, who was about to create a photo and written feature for the cycling magazine Alvento about Sofiane and his journey. He asked me if I would be interested in joining the project, and I immediately felt there could be a great story to tell. At that moment, I had no idea that such a simple proposal would eventually turn into a documentary, nor into such an intense creative experience.

So we traveled to France, to Sofiane’s home, and filmed the interview following the questions prepared by Edoardo. It was right after the interview ended that I realized there was the foundation for a documentary, even though all the filming had to be completed in less than three days — the short amount of time we had available to spend with him.
In some way, this limitation forced us to work instinctively, trying to capture every authentic moment without constructing anything artificial.

As a director, I tried to stay as close to reality as possible, and I was never interested in building the image of a hero. I wanted to portray a real person, with his silences, and I gradually realized that this film was not only about cycling or ultra-distance racing, but about something much more universal: the human need for freedom.

This project would not have been possible without the support of the sponsors and all the people who believed in the film from the very beginning, allowing us to turn an idea born almost by chance into something real. I would therefore like to thank Bombtrack, Miss Grape, COROS and The Sharing Van.

Seeing this story later featured and shared by international media outlets such as Bikepacking.com, The New York Timesand Der Spiegel was something I honestly could never have imagined when all of this first began.