Watch The New KON-TIKI Featurette

In January when the nominations were announced for the 85th Academy Awards, Norway’s KON-TIKI was recognized with a nod in the Best Foreign Language Film category and found itself in the company of AMOUR from Austria, WAR WITCH from Canada, A ROYAL AFFAIR from Denmark and NO from Chile.

Go behind the scenes in this brand new featurette from The Weinstein Company. From directors Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg, KON-TIKI screened in September at the Toronto International Film Festival and is scheduled for an April 19th release.

In 1947, the world is gripped with excitement as the young Norwegian adventurer Thor Heyerdahl embarks on an astonishing expedition – a journey of 4,300 nautical miles across the Pacific Ocean on the Kon-Tiki raft. From his days living in the Marquesas with his wife Liv, Thor suspected that the South Sea Islands had been settled by ancient South Americans from thousands of miles to the east. Despite his inability to swim and fear of water, Thor decides to prove his theory by sailing the legendary voyage himself. After replicating the design of an ancient raft in balsa wood, Thor and five fellow adventurers set sail from Peru. Their only modern equipment is a radio, and they take a parrot along for company. A natural leader, Thor uses the stars and the ocean’s current to navigate the raft. After three dangerous months on the open sea, encountering raging storms, sharks, and all the dangers the Ocean can muster, the exhausted crew sight Polynesia and make a triumphant landing. Having sacrificed everything for his mission, even his marriage, the success of the Kon-Tiki expedition proves bittersweet for Thor.

In their third movie, KON-TIKI is from childhood friends and director pair Espen Sandberg and Joachim Rønning. After their initial work on commercials, the duo got their breakthrough with 2008’s MAX MANUS. Their first English-speaking feature film was 2006’s BANDIDAS starring Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek, with Luc Besson serving as screenwriter and producer.

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