The Strait Guys

Can four men with a dream convince Russia and America to join forces to connect the world?

A grumpy, Czech-born mining engineer and his fast-talking protégé join forces with Russian visionaries. They dare to try the impossible - to link the United States and Russia with a 100-kilometre railroad tunnel beneath the Bering Strait.

The “Strait Guys” try to convince international governments, corporations, and indigenous tribes to green-light their $100 billion project. They promise that it will become the Panama Canal of the 21st century.

It will be the largest development project in the world, and open up the Arctic’s vast natural resources for exploration. Abraham Lincoln, Czar Nicholas II, Lenin, Stalin and Roosevelt all proposed re-connecting Asia and North America for the first time since the Bering Strait land bridge disappeared 9,000 years ago.

The challenges are daunting: ongoing economic and political tensions, 5,000 kilometres of missing tracks, and a $100 billion price tag, to name but a few. But the Strait Guys are not easily discouraged.

This film is part of our Festival Watch Parties and has a LIVE Q&A:
29 June, 10am. Click here to RSVP.