The announcement was made yesterday by the Norwegian Film Institute. Kon-Tiki was favoured over the other short-listed candidates The Orheim Company and I Belong.
It is the second chance for the directing duo Espen Sandberg and Joachim Rønning to run for the Oscars (Max Manus was Norway's candidate in 2009) and also the second chance for the story of Norwegian anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl aboard the wooden raft the ‘Kon-Tiki' to impress the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Committee. Heyerdahl's own documentary Kon-Tiki won an Oscar in 1950.
Produced by Aage Aaberge (Nordisk Film Norway) and UK producer Jeremy Thomas (Recorded Picture Company) with support, among others from Nordisk Film & TV Fond, the epic adventure Kon-Tiki is still number one in Norway in its third weekend and total admissions have passed 600,000.
The film had its international premiere in Toronto last week.
Last time Norway was nominated for a Best Foreign Language Oscar was in 2001 with Petter Næss' Elling. The 85th Academy Award nominations will be announced on January 15, 2013.