Wikipedia describes Andrew McAuley as “an Australian adventurer, best known for his mountaineering and sea kayaking in remote parts of the world.” In 2005 Australian Geographic named him ‘Adventurer of the Year’. The adventure he set himself in the summer of 2006/7 was the first solo crossing of the Tasman Sea. If he’d made it, he’d have been covered in glory (and sponsorship opportunities) on a far wider media stage than Australian Geographic. Instead he went missing in the notoriously wild seas 50 miles short of Milford Sound and it was his wife and infant son who made the six o’clock news. The sombre, hypnotic Solo delves deep into the spirit of extreme adventure and is rendered all the more potent by its use of McAuley’s on-board recordings of his ordeal, recovered from his abandoned kayak. As we meet the family who loved him and the friends and colleagues who fed his appetite for life on the edge, the very notion of ‘solo’ endeavour is thrown into question.

Preceeded by Salt. Dirs: Michael Angus, Murray Fredericks/Australia /2009/28 mins For six years photographer-artist Murray Fredericks has cycled out onto Lake Eyre in the northern extremes of South Australia. On the vast emptiness of the salt lake, he has created an amazing body of time-lapse photography. With a 360 degree horizon line as his only orientation, he has found a profusion, small things transformed by the clarity and intensity of light and colour. And like all wanderers in the desert, he has also had to confront himself. Fredericks’ video diaries chronicle his artistry but also his loneliness, and the resourcefulness necessary to survive. Michael Angus has augmented Fredericks’ footage with striking aerial photography, time-lapse video and the haunting sounds of Aajinta’s Harmonic Spheres to produce a memorable experience of what it means to look at landscape with fresh eyes. — Adelaide Film Festival