When Montreal filmmaker Korbett Matthews began shooting his film The Man Who Crossed the Sahara, he wanted to find out how and why Canadian filmmaker Frank Cole was murdered near Timbuktu, Mali in 2000.

Matthews compares his $315,000 documentary to the Grizzly Man, Werner Herzog’s film about the life and death of environmentalist and bear enthusiast Timothy Treadwell.

‘The Sahara is known as the white man’s grave. If you had a death wish you would walk across the desert. That’s what Frank Cole did,’ Matthews tells Playback Daily.

Indeed. When Cole was murdered, it was his second time making the 7,100-km trip across the Sahara alone. The first time was in 1990 to film his self-shot documentary Life Without Death (Necessary Illusions). In 2000, he set out on the journey again, but didn’t make it.

For someone who appeared to throw himself at death, Cole was, oddly, a life extensionist. His body is now frozen at the Cryonics Institute in Detroit, says Matthews. ‘He was someone who was afraid to die but did everything to face it head-on,’ he says. ‘I really feel I had a responsibility to Frank to make this film. It’s sort of like a murder mystery. I wanted to find out what happened.’

Matthews says Cole was likely murdered by bandits.

The Man Who Crossed the Sahara will be broadcast on Bravo! in late spring. The film was made with help from SODEC, the National Film Board, the Rogers Documentary Fund and the Canadian and Quebec arts councils.

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This story has been corrected. Cole’s trip across the Sahara was 7,100 km, not miles as originally reported.