Private Project

The Viking Route -#1 Salt&Earth

Adventure Meets History - In this docutainment trilogy Claus Aktoprak is sailing single-handed on the traces of history through the dreamlike archipelagos of Sweden, the Åland-islands and Finland to Tallinn in Estonia. Following an ancient itinerary, written by monks in the 13th century, this oldest and exiting source about navigating the Baltic sea is dating back to the age of the Vikings. This sailing route, his 40 year old sailboat LA MER auctioned at eBay and a kayak are the ingredients of this new Baltic sea adventure from Claus Aktoprak through the dreamlike archipelagos of Scandinavia.
The trilogy consists of:
#1 "Salt&Earth"
#2 "Skärgard"
#3 "The Water is Wide", available Autumn, 2020

  • Claus Aktoprak
    Director
  • Claus Aktoprak
    Writer
  • Claus Aktoprak
    Producer
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Die Route der Wikinger - #1 Salz&Erde
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 23 minutes 55 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    May 15, 2019
  • Production Budget:
    10,000 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Germany
  • Country of Filming:
    Åland Islands, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Sweden
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Claus Aktoprak

Claus Aktoprak is a professional musician and songwriter. In 2014 he made his first long journey on a sailboat to write 19 songs for his album "Zeitmillionär". After 6 month at sea, he produced this album with 30 international musicians, and also produced a documentary movie about the travel and the creation of the music and the album. This was followed by touring along the coast of the Baltic to perform his album live. Another product of that journey was a educational video teaching the techniques of single-handed sailing. In 2017 Claus Aktoprak had the idea for the partly crowdfunded documentary "The Viking Route" and set sails in 2018 for the elaborate production of the trilogy.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

My goal was to create a movie which shows all sorts of historical facts and documentary content found along the route in combination with my personal emotions and experiences. Highlighted by big pictures of the unique landscape in the Scandinavian archipelagos. A movie that makes you longing for your own time out and also open your eyes for the history of the region. The hardest part was filming without a team and in parts also saiing single-handed simultaniously.