Kon Tiki

“Seaworthy, and then some” —on January 7, see Kon Tiki and help bring our Silver Anniversary Rescreens into 2026! Directed by Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg, this epic adventure film dramatizes Norwegian anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl’s real-life 1947 expedition across the Pacific on a balsawood raft.

Norway’s most expensive production to date, Kon Tiki (Norway, 2013) was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 85th Academy Awards, and was screened here at Scandinavia House as a part of our Nordic Oscar Contenders in 2013. Now, for our 25th anniversary, we return to Heyerdahl’s (Pål Sverre Hagen) epic gambit to prove that South Americans had settled in the Polynesian islands, a theory that remains a matter of debate, and to retrace their steps using only the resources available to potential pre-Columbian settlers.

Though he himself cannot swim or sail, he sets out on the treacherous 4,300-nautical-mile journey across the Pacific from Peru to Polynesia aboard the small raft– the Kon Tiki, named after the Inca sun god –along with his crew of five men (and a macaw named Lorita). Kon Tiki takes us through the exploits of Heyerdahl and the embattled crew as they embark on their three-month sail equipped with only a radio– facing down tidal waves, sharks, and demons of the deep.

“A ravishingly photographed, old-fashioned man-against-the-elements epic propelled by human-scaled heroics.” (RogerEbert.com)

“A rousing and thoroughly enjoyable Old Hollywood-style adventure…” (NPR)