While most experts hold that such a voyage across the vast ocean is unlikely to have ever been successful, in order to illustrate that there were no technological limitations that would have inhibited the ancient peoples from making the journey, Heyerdahl puts his theory to the test and builds a balsawood raft using the same techniques that would have been utilized 1,500 years ago by the indigenous peoples of the region. Noting similarities between statues found in South America and the Polynesian moai, Heyerdahl's theory about the origin of the Polynesian people is bolstered by Polynesian folklore that tells of an ancient tribe called the Hanau epe that are said to have once inhabited Easter Island. While the prevailing theories of the time held that Polynesia had been settled by peoples migrating from the west, Heyerdahl, an experimental ethnographer and adventurer, sets out to prove his theory that people from South America settled the islands in pre-Columbian times. The film is the dramatized story of Thor Heyerdahl and his Kon-Tiki expedition of 1947. It is the first time a Norwegian film has been nominated for both an Oscar and a Golden Globe. The film was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 70th Golden Globe Awards. It is Norway's fifth Academy Award nomination. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 85th Academy Awards. It was the highest-grossing film of 2012 in Norway and the country's most expensive production to date.

The film is an international co-production between Norway, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The role of Thor Heyerdahl is played by Pål Sverre Hagen. The film was mainly shot on the island of Malta.

Kon-Tiki is a 2012 historical drama film directed by Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg about the 1947 Kon-Tiki expedition.

Thor kon tiki