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"Rife with melodrama, sexual intrigue and suspicious deaths … Inescapably fascinating." – The Hollywood Reporter
In 1929, Berlin physician Dr Friedrich Ritter and his mistress Dore Strauch leave German society for exotic, uninhabited Floreana Island in the Galapagos archipelago, seeking a pioneering seclusion. After newspaper reports sensationalising their deeds surface back in der vaterland, other idealists arrive, among them a gun-toting Viennese baroness with her two much-younger lovers. But as personalities begin to clash, what was a Robinson Crusoe adventure soon becomes a macabre tale of jealousy, suspicion and the spectre of foul play.
Utilising original photographs and incredible footage from the time, directors Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller (Ballets Russes, MIFF 2005) explore an intriguing real-crime story that remains shrouded in mystery to this day. With the voices of Cate Blanchett, Diane Kruger and Sebastian Koch (The Lives of Others) bringing the diarised accounts of Ritter, Strauch and other dramatis personae to life, The Galapagos Affair will leave you reconsidering any long-held dreams of escaping to an island paradise.
"Goldfine and Geller pace and structure The Galapagos Affair like the true-crime tale that it is, its mysteries rich and involving, its characters enduring in the imagination long after the film has ended." – Village Voice