Explorer

On a mission at sea, an all-consuming mining engineer meets the ship’s captaine – her nemesis.

Team

synopsis

Chief mining engineer Katla embarks on a governmental mission to survey a territory of deep-sea minerals in the North Atlantic. On the research ship Explorer, Katla and her engineering team, a group of scientists and the ship’s crew sail towards the survey area in harsh weather. The closed off and gruff captain of the ship, Sigriður, challenges the decisions of ambitious and ardent Katla who leads a sea mission for the first time and treats her new environment on board like an exciting playground. Katla engages in a silent battle of will with the equally headstrong Sigriður who she feels both attracted and repelled by. The mysterious captain resists her – Sigriður’s only Master is the sea. The Explorer reaches the survey area. All-consuming Katla digs deep into the ocean soil and the humans around her. She pushes her team to work hard day and night, but the sea doesn’t act in Katla’s favour. She is overcome by maddening seasickness and the mission’s progress doesn’t meet her ambitions. When a deadly accident happens, Sigriður warns Katla of defying the sea – it is unpredictable. The weather deteriorates and demands Sigriður to navigate the Explorer back to land, but Katla wants to continue her mission. In the end, the sea decides her fate.

Director’statement

Before becoming a filmmaker, I worked as a ship’s officer at sea. Without romanticising it, I have never felt so existentially dependent on observing and respecting nature around me than in those years at sea. On research ship deployment, I followed at close quarters the initial ventures of exploring deep sea mining and its hailed potential to solve the energy crisis of tomorrow. It kept me wondering. Is this another example of our human nature, our constant hunger for more, the driving force of our evolution? Doesn’t it collide with our human concept and need of rest, peace and love? With Explorer I want to tell a story about the impossibility of establishing a connection with nature and another human being because all you’ve ever learnt and taught yourself is to consume everything around you. It’s a dark story leaning into archetypical saga storytelling and genre elements, but my aim is to also give it lightness and room to breathe by leaving the human-centered perspective and let the character of the sea speak from its point of view through a daring and visceral visual language.

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