The Raft
Directed by Marcus Lindeen
Denmark | 2019 | Documentary | 97 min
Film Source: Metrograph
Awards/premier festivals: CPH:DOX - Main Prize; Chicago International Film Festival – Silver Hugo
Sponsors: Bridget and Nick Meyer
Followed by Skype Q&A with Director Marcus Lindeen
In the summer of 1973, a young international crew of six women and five men embarked on a most unusual sea voyage — a close-quarters trip across the Atlantic from Spain to Mexico on a free-floating raft christened the Acali. The journey was initiated by Mexican anthropologist Santiago Genovés, who proposed to use the group as guinea pigs in his investigation of the origins of violent conflict and the dynamics of sexual attraction. Contentious from the get-go, and incorrectly labeled by the media as “The Sex Raft,” the Acali mission stayed afloat for 101 days. Now, more than 40 years later, the surviving crew members reunite to reenact and recollect their experiences. With extensive 16mm archival footage from the voyage brilliantly edited by Alexandra Strauss (I Am Not Your Negro), the film is a document of the thin line between science and cultism in the early ’70s, as well as an unforgettable portrait of oblivious, toxic masculinity. ~OY