‘Are you a traveler or a tourist?’ That is the question. What Is the difference? A tourist thinks about going home the minute he/she has arrived at his/her destination, whereas a traveler gets so wrapped up in the adventure he/she rarely ever returns home (Paul Bowles’ ‘The Sheltering Sky’). Norwegian adventurer Thor Heyerdahl was a true ‘traveler’ and made history with his epic voyage ‘Kon-Tiki’, now a major motion picture nominated for Best Foreign Film for the 2013 Academy Awards.

'Kon-Tiki' (Norway, 2012) is my pick for the 'Best Foreign Film' of 2012. Awe-inspiring, moving, sensational, motivating, this film is about a man who had an incredible dream who was mocked and ridiculed at every turn, but because he chose to trust his instinct and realize his dream at any price, he made history for accomplishing what before had seemed only impossible.

'Kon-Tiki' is the extraordinary true account of Thor Heyerdahl, the Norwegian traveler turned legend, and his obsession to prove that the Polynesian islands had not been settled by people from Asia, which was the popular belief at the time; rather, they were settled by South American migrants on handmade rafts. The year was 1947 and to prove his theory Thor built a handmade balsawood raft which he named ‘Kon-Tiki’, after the Polynesian sun-god, and with a crew of only five they sailed 4300 nautical miles across the Pacific Ocean from Peru to French Polynesia.

Thor had the fantastic life-threatening sea journey filmed as a documentary during the voyage, which later went on to win the 1950 Academy Award for Best Documentary. Thor also wrote and published a novel about this incredible journey, which later became an international best seller translated into 70 languages selling more than 50 million copies. Filmed at a budget of nearly $17M, this is one of Norway’s most ambitious films yet recounting the world’s most impressive sea-journey exploration of modern times.

-Written by Vanessa McMahon

118 Minute Running Time Additional Countries: United Kingdom Topics: Action/Adventure, Epic, History Program: Awards Buzz : Best Foreign Language Film Language: Norwegian English Sub-Titles

DIRECTOR: Joachim Ronning, Espen Sandberg Producer: Aage Aaberge, Jeremy Thomas Editor: Perry Eriksen, Martin Stoltz Screenwriter: Petter Skavlan Cinematographer: Geir Hartly Andreassen Music: Johan Soderqvist Principal Cast: Pål Sverre Hagen, Anders Baasmo Christiansen, Gustaf Skarsgard, Odd Magnus Williamson, Tobias Santelmann, Jakob Oftebro Filmography: Espen Sandberg & Joachim Ronning: Max Manus: Man of War (2008), Bandidas (2006)

Official Film Website:

http://www.kontikifilmen.com/