Húsavík Explorers Festival Shines a Light on Adventure and Discovery
Last night, Húsavík opened the doors on its 11th Explorers Festival — three documentary screenings and a presentation on India’s space ambitions got things moving in fine style.
The Exploration Museum organises the event, and this year’s lineup runs to 22 films from 17 countries across five days. Filmmakers, scientists, adventurers, and students are all in town, taking audiences from the rainforests of Brazil to Iceland‘s glaciers. Festival director Örlygur Örlygsson put it plainly: “This year’s programme is the most diverse in the festival’s history.” He added, “Each film tells a commendable story about the courage to explore, protect, and understand, inviting viewers to places few may ever visit, while reinforcing the importance of exploration.”
A Momentous Opening Ceremony
The formal opening yesterday afternoon included addresses from Katrín Sigurjónsdóttir, the mayor of Húsavík, and R. Ravindra, India’s ambassador to Iceland. British journalist and space commentator Tira Shubart then delivered a keynote lecture titled “Chandrayaan: A New Age of Lunar Exploration,” walking the room through India’s growing role in lunar science.
After the ceremony, three films screened back to back: Chasing the Arctic Melt, Look Down Not Up, and A Tale of Two Qallunaat. The filmmakers stayed on for discussions with the audience.
Exploration Awaits
Today, participants headed out into the volcanic landscapes around Húsavík — the same terrain where Apollo astronauts trained in the 1960s before heading to the moon.
Weekend Screenings Offer Insight and Inspiration
Saturday’s programme carries on with four thematic strands covering exploration, scientific discovery, climate change, and human tenacity. Directors and visiting explorers will be around for Q&A sessions, and there’s a reception for filmmakers on Saturday evening.
Sunday morning brings a second geology excursion, this time out to the Tungulending fossil site. Films from Greenland, hosted at the Eurovision Exhibition, round out the afternoon.
Later on Sunday, local explorers Rafnar Orri Gunnarsson, Elvar Örn Egilsson, and Örlygur Örlygsson will talk through their summer expedition to the North Pole and preview their upcoming documentary on Neil Armstrong and Sir Edmund Hillary’s 1985 expedition to the region.
A Grand Finale Awaits
The festival closes on Sunday with the 2025 Leifur Erikson Awards, recognising outstanding work in exploration and scientific communication. Former NASA astronaut trainer Michelle Lucas delivers the closing lecture, “Space Inspires Us to Higher Orbits” — a fitting send-off for five days of big stories and bigger ideas.
