Screened as part of NZIFF 2014

The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden 2013

Directed by Dayna Goldfine, Dan Geller Framing Reality

A flamboyant Viennese baroness and her two lovers bring mystery and murder to a lonely Pacific paradise in this lavishly archived, stranger-than-fiction documentary whodunit.

USA In English
120 minutes B&W / DCP

Producers

Dan Geller
,
Dayna Goldfine
,
Celeste Schaefer Snyder

Screenplay

Dayna Goldfine
,
Dan Geller
,
Celeste Schaefer Snyder. Based on the books
,
journals
,
articles and letters of Dore Strauch
,
Margret Wittmer
,
Friedrich Ritter
,
Heinz Wittmer and John Garth

Photography

Dan Geller

Editor

Bill Weber

Music

Laura Karpman

Voices

Cate Blanchett
,
Diane Kruger
,
Connie Nielsen
,
Thomas Kretschmann

With

Octavio Latorre
,
Fritz Hieber
,
Jacqueline De Roy
,
Gil De Roy
,
Tui De Roy
,
Teppy Angermeyer
,
Steve Divine
,
Carmen Kubler Angermeyer
,
Jacob Lundh

Festivals

Berlin 2014

Elsewhere

Almost improperly entertaining, this
documentary whodunit spins a tale
of utopian ideals, sexual intrigue
and murderous jealousy – all on
tiny Floreana, one of the Galapagos
Islands. The events it describes were
a media sensation in the 30s, thanks
in large measure to the enthusiastic
on-film cavorting of the story’s
flamboyant femme fatale. Filmmakers
Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller (Ballets
Russes) have restored a cornucopia
of reportage, archival film and
photography and enlisted top-line
voice talent, including Cate Blanchett,
to explore this bizarre tale anew.
In 1929, German physician Friedrich
Ritter abandoned wife, family and
civilisation to settle on unoccupied
Floreana with Dore Strauch, his patient
and lover. They were followed, to their
displeasure, by another German family.
Not long after, the so-called Baroness
Eloise von Wagner showed up with
her two lovers and threatened to turn
Ritter’s island of glorious isolation into
a tourist resort. Hacienda Paradiso!
When American philanthropist George
Allan Hancock met the Baroness on
one of his frequent research trips to
the Galapagos, she fast became his
most exciting discovery. The stage
was set for her international fame and
a sharp decline in the population of
paradise.
“I’ll spill nothing… A story this well
told deserves to be relished. 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.” — Alan Scherstuhl, Village
Voice

 

The Directors' visit is supported by: Television and Screen Production Masters Programme School of Communication Studies AUT University