The Raft

In 1973, decades before Big Brother and similar reality TV formats, anthropologist Santiago Genoves sets off on an adventurous and controversial expedition at sea: his aim was to cross the Atlantic within three months, on a small raft and with a group of ten handpicked, vastly different participants of both sexes – and to study the colourful group’s aggressive behaviour. From a female Swedish captain to a Japanese photographer and an Angolan priest, a microcosm of the world is formed. Dubbed by the media as the "sex raft", the endeavour, which became known as the "Acali Experiment", was subject to discussion all around the world. 43 years later, the surviving team members meet up to share their adventure at sea. Marcus Lindeen uses archive footage and touching re-enactment scenes on a replica of the raft to (re)animate their experiences. Curiously, the team’s memories significantly differ from the off voice reading the expedition leader’s diary entries. (Zurich Film Festival)