On May 28, 2018, three American kayakers left Havana on an attempt to paddle across the Straits of Florida to the United States. After 27 hours and 12 minutes of nonstop paddling, they landed in Key West. They were not the first to make the voyage. Thousands of Cuban refugees have attempted to cross the Straits of Florida, risking and sometimes losing their lives in the process. Juxtaposed with the stories of four Cuban refugees who have rebuilt their lives in the United States, THE CROSSING is a visceral journey across dangerous open ocean that explores the complex issue of forced human migration and asks: What is the human cost of closed borders?
