The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden

Darwin meets Hitchcock in this true-crime tale of paradise found and lost. The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden is a fascinating documentary portrait of a 1930s murder mystery as strange and alluring as the famous archipelago itself. Fleeing conventional society, a Berlin doctor and his mistress start a new life on uninhabited Floreana Island. But after the international press sensationalizes the exploits of the Galapagos’ “Adam and Eve”, others flock there—including a self-styled Swiss Family Robinson and a gun-toting Viennese Baroness and her two lovers. Clashing personalities are aggravated by the island community’s lusty free-love ethos, and when some of the islanders disappear, suspicions of murder hang in the air leaving an unsolved mystery which remains the subject of local lore today. To bring this extraordinary story to life, filmmakers Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller (Ballets Russes) nimbly interweave newly unearthed home movies of these original settlers; testimonies of modern day islanders, stunning HD footage of native flora and fauna, and powerful voice performances by Oscar winner Cate Blanchett, Diane Kruger, Connie Nielsen, Sebastian Koch, Thomas Kretschmann, Gustaf Skarsgård and Josh Radnor. Macabre yet inspiring, The Galapagos Affair is a gripping parable of Robinson Crusoe adventure and utopian dreams gone awry.