Norwegian Oscar Entry ‘Growth of the Soil’ Sells to North America, U.K., Germany, Spain and More

Beta Cinema has closed a raft of major deals on Hans Petter Moland’s epic love story “Growth of the Soil,” Norway’s entry for best international feature film at the 99th Academy Awards. The deals follow the film’s world premiere in Toronto and its European premiere at San Sebastián, where it walked away with two major awards.

The film has sold to Greenwich Entertainment in North America, Neue Visionen in Germany and Austria, Teodora Film in Italy, A Contracorriente Films in Spain, Conic in the U.K. and Ireland, Cherry Pickers in Benelux, Frenetic Films in Switzerland, Weird Wave in Greece, Scanorama in the Baltics, Vertigo Media in Hungary, Beta Film in Bulgaria, Big Tree Entertainment in India, Falcon Pictures in Indonesia, Imovision in Brazil and Palace Films in Australia and New Zealand.

The film was released throughout Scandinavia by Scanbox Entertainment, and got off to a strong start in Norway, climbing to No. 1 at the box office over its opening weekend.

At San Sebastián, “Growth of the Soil” won the Silver Shell for best leading performance and the jury prize for best cinematography. The film has subsequently continued its autumn festival run, including showings at the Warsaw Film Festival, the Rio Film Festival, the Denver Film Festival, the Mar del Plata Film Festival and it opened the Bergen Film Festival. It also is shortlisted for the European Film Awards for the best feature film category.

Based on a Nobel Prize Winning novel, “Growth of the Soil” tells the story of Isak, a man without a past who crosses the mountains in search of somewhere to build a life. High above the tree line, he finds an unforgiving stretch of land and, eventually, Inger, a woman whose resilience matches his own. Together they create a home and family from almost nothing, until time, ambition and a changing world begin to transform both their relationship and the landscape around them.

Herbert Nordrum (“The Worst Person in the World,” “Sense and Sensibility”) and former EFP Shooting Star Asta Kamma August (“The Hypnosis”) are in the leading roles, next to Gard B. Eidsvold, Anders Baasmo, Oddgeir Thune and Sjur Vatne Brean.

Moland previously directed “Out Stealing Horses,” “In Order of Disappearance,” “A Somewhat Gentle Man” and “Zero Kelvin.” His films have competed for the Golden Bear four times, and “Out Stealing Horses” was Norway’s Oscar submission in 2019.

Moland co-wrote the screenplay with Eidsvold. The film was shot by Oskar Dahlsbakken, with an original score by Danish composer Kaspar Kaae. It is produced by Håkon Øverås for 4 ½ Fiction, in co-production with Scanbox.