Based on a true story

Ninety Miles

Four men. Three inner tubes.
Ninety miles of open ocean.
One prayer changed everything.

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Miles of Open Ocean
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Days Lost at Sea
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Men on the Raft
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Prayer
Chapter One

They Said
Patria o Muerte

"Fatherland or Death."

In 1970s Cuba, under Castro's iron grip, four young men lived in a country where the walls had ears, the ocean was a prison fence, and the word freedom could get you killed.

Rafael, Flaco, Pepe, and Hector grew up together in a Havana where propaganda billboards towered over crumbling colonial buildings, where ration books replaced groceries, and where the sea — visible from nearly everywhere on the island — whispered of another world just ninety miles north.

1970s Havana at golden hour
Havana, Cuba — 1970s
Chapter Two

The Night
Everything Changed

In a cramped apartment with the windows shut and voices low, Rafael made the decision. They would build a raft in secret. They would launch at night. They would cross the Florida Strait — ninety miles of open ocean patrolled by Cuban military, infested with sharks, and cursed by the Gulf Stream's deadly crosscurrents.

"The penalty for attempting to leave was prison. The penalty for staying was a lifetime of it."

They had three truck inner tubes, rope, a few wooden planks, and a bedsheet for a sail. That was it. That was the plan.

Four men plan their escape
The plan was simple. The stakes were not.
Chapter Three

There Was No
Going Back

Under the cover of a moonless night, they carried the raft through the trees to the shoreline. Waist-deep in warm black surf, they pushed it into the waves. Behind them, a military searchlight swept the coast. Ahead, lightning flickered on the horizon.

Rafael looked back toward Cuba one last time. Then he climbed onto three inner tubes lashed together with rope, and pushed off into the darkness.

Chapter Four

The Crossing

Day one — four men alone on the ocean
Day One — Nothing but water in every direction

By dawn, Cuba had vanished behind them. In every direction — only water. The raft drifted at the mercy of currents that pulled them east toward the Bermuda Triangle instead of north toward Florida. The sun was merciless. They had no shade, almost no water, and no way to steer.

A shark circles beneath the raft
What they couldn't see beneath them

On the second day, they saw the shadow. A tiger shark — longer than their raft — circled beneath them in slow, patient loops. Their legs dangled inches from the water. No one moved. No one spoke. For hours, it circled.

A massive storm hits the raft
The storm hit on the second night

Then the storm came. Waves the height of buildings crashed over them. Lightning turned the sky white. They tied themselves to the raft with rope and held on. One inner tube started leaking. The wooden platform cracked. They were swallowing seawater. One man lost consciousness.

Day three — men collapsed on the raft
Day Three
Chapter Five

Day Three

By the third day, they were dying. Dehydrated. Delirious. Sunburned beyond recognition. One man lay face-down and hadn't moved in hours. The raft was falling apart. The ocean was flat and grey and endless, and no one was coming.

Rafael had never been a religious man. He practiced Santeria like everyone else in his neighborhood, but he had never once prayed to Jesus. Never saw the point. Never believed.

"But when you are dying — when there is nothing left — you find out what you actually believe."

Chapter Six

The Prayer

Rafael got on his knees on a raft made of inner tubes in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. He put his hands together. And for the first time in his life — he prayed.

What happened next was documented.
The photographs still exist.

Coast Guard cutter appears on the horizon
USCG Cutter Diligence (WMEC-616) — Key West, Florida
Chapter Seven

The Ship Came

The United States Coast Guard Cutter Diligence appeared on the horizon like a ghost. A white hull with a red racing stripe. An American flag. The men on the raft couldn't believe it was real.

They were pulled from the water one by one. Three of the men scrambled for the ladder immediately. Rafael didn't. He stayed on his knees on the sinking raft, face turned toward the sky, weeping — thanking the God he had just met.

The rescue
The following photographs are real
The actual raft
Rafael — after the rescue
USCG Cutter Diligence
These photographs were taken aboard the USCG Cutter Diligence
after the rescue of four Cuban men from the Florida Strait.
The Real Men

Photographed Aboard the
Diligence After Rescue

Rafael
Rafael
Flaco
Flaco
Pepe
Pepe
Hector
Hector
Archival photographs — 1970s
“
The photographs are real.
The story is true.
The prayer changed everything.
A feature film in active development
The Film

Two Timelines.
Two Lives Changed
by the Same Prayer.

Ninety Miles moves between the harrowing 1970s ocean crossing and the present day, where Rafael's daughter Camila — a sharp, driven college student — interviews her father for a class project. What starts as a school assignment becomes something she can't outrun.

One prayer, spoken in desperation on a raft in the middle of the ocean, echoes across decades — and changes two lives.

NINETY MILES is a feature film in active development.
Written & produced by Priscilla Pruitt.

Industry Professionals

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to Materials

Select materials are available to verified producers, development executives, and industry professionals by request.

Available Upon Request

  • Full film treatment (40+ pages)
  • Pitch deck with archival rescue photographs
  • Screenplay (in development)
  • Budget overview and financial projections
  • Producer's statement

Project Details

  • Genre: Drama / Survival / Faith-Based
  • Based on a true story with archival documentation
  • Dual timeline structure (1970s / Present Day)
  • Budget range: $8 – 15M
  • Writer/Producer: Priscilla Pruitt
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