Documentary. In 1973, at the instigation of anthropologist Santiago Genovés, 11 strangers - five men and six women - were cast adrift on a raft to explore the links between sexuality and aggression. The press dubbed it the "Sex Raft". Over 40 years later, the surviving members regroup on a replica of the vessel to recall the journey.
In 1973, decades before Big Brother became must-see reality TV, anthropologist Santiago Genovés embarked on "one of the strangest group experiments of all time" by placing 11 disparate people - six women and five men from different nations and ethnicities - on a raft set to drift across the Atlantic from the Canaries to Mexico. This fascinating documentary gathers the surviving crew members on a full-size replica of the vessel where they reflect, agonise, reveal long-held secrets and try to come to terms with their life-changing experience. Genovés expected to observe plenty of sexual tension, conflict and aggression in this isolated, pressure-cooker environment, and so he put the women in positions of power (notably Swedish Maria Björnstam as captain) while the men had the less important duties. However, his best-laid plans begin to flounder when hurricanes, near collisions, mutiny and the sheer peril of floating across an ocean without a motor intercede. The combination of the original 16mm footage with the survivors' recollections is powerful and moving, with Fé Seymour's midway epiphany (or "ocean vertigo", as she calls it) a profoundly illuminating moment.
| role | name |
|---|---|
| Santiago Genovés | Daniel Gimenez Cacho |
| Fé Seymour | Fé Seymour |
| Maria Björnstam | Maria Björnstam |
| Servane Zanotti | Servane Zanotti |
| Mary Gidley | Mary Gidley |
| Rachida Lièvre | Rachida Lièvre |
| Edna Reves | Edna Reves |
| Eisuke Yamaki | Eisuke Yamaki |
| role | name |
|---|---|
| Director | Marcus Lindeen |
