Kumu Documentary: The Raftsmen
Dir Chadden Hunter
Australia 2025, 90 min
In English
Introduction by adventurer Mart Kuusk.
Twelve adventure-mad misfits set out to cross the world’s largest ocean… on three log rafts.
In 1973, 12 men gathered in Ecuador at the start of a seemingly impossible mission. At the helm was Captain Vital Aslar, a prophet-like leader with a Salvador Dali-inspired dream to cross the South Pacific: roughly 14,000 kilometres, non-stop. The largely inexperienced crew began by building their own vessels from trees they’d felled. Then they headed out into the blue: navigating by the sun and stars, they encountered myriad creatures, tempests and doldrums as they made their way from Ecuador towards Australia.
The award-winning documentarian Chadden Hunter blended original 16mm footage with stories from the surviving rafters, vividly conjuring a dreamlike adventure in which the voyagers were pushed to their limits.
