Entertainment
6 November, 2025
Raw adventure on film
AUDIENCES will be treated to some of the world’s best cinema when the Travelling Film Festival (TFF) rolls into town at Event Cinemas Cairns Central this 7-9 November, bringing a hand-picked selection of international and local stories to the big screen, including ‘The Raftsmen’, a remarkable adventure documentary by Cairns-born filmmaker Dr Chadden Hunter.
For festival manager Beatrix Brady, the event is about more than just movies – it’s about access, connection, and community.
“The whole idea of the Travelling Film Festival is about making sure audiences in regional Australia get access to films that they’d otherwise not have the opportunity to see on the big screen,” she said.
“We curate our programs for each location, so Cairns audiences can know that it’s a totally tailored and curated program just for them.”
This year’s program spans continents, featuring acclaimed works from Iran, Spain, Nigeria and beyond.
But for local audiences, The Raftsmen will strike a special chord.
Directed by Dr Chadden Hunter, best known for his work on Planet Earth and Frozen Planet with Sir David Attenborough, the film tells the extraordinary true story of 12 men who, in 1973, sailed a handmade raft from South America to Ballina, NSW, in a record-breaking six-month voyage across the Pacific.
Dr Hunter said the idea came about in the most unlikely of places.
“My wife actually discovered this story in a little tin shed called the Ballina Maritime Museum, where one of the surviving rafts is still there today,” he said.
“When I found out they filmed it all on 16-millimetre cameras, that’s when I thought, OK, this story really needs to be told.”
What started as an adventure story soon evolved into something more profound.
“You spend six months out on the Pacific, floating on logs, you get sharks, storms, all the raw adventure you could want,” he said.
“But what fascinated me most was the psychological journey. What drives people to push themselves that far? What happens to humans when they’re isolated together on the edge of the world?”
Dr Hunter describes The Raftsmen as both a love letter to the Pacific Ocean and a meditation on human resilience.
“If this adventure happened now, it would be covered in sponsorships and TikTok posts,” he laughed.
“Back then, they had no communication; no one knew where they were. It’s a poignant reminder to reconnect with nature and the simple things in life.”
At its heart, though, Dr Hunter hopes the film inspires reflection.
Tickets and the whole program are at www.bit.ly/3LtblsI.
