Beta Cinema takes Moland’s Norwegian epic to Toronto

Beta Cinema has signed on to handle worldwide sales for Hans Petter Moland’s new Norwegian drama Growth of the Soil before the film makes its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, Variety reported.

The film is set for Toronto’s Special Presentation section, giving Moland’s adaptation of Knut Hamsun’s Nobel Prize-linked novel a high-profile launch on the festival circuit.

Herbert Nordrum, known internationally for The Worst Person in the World, leads the cast with Asta Kamma August, who was named to the Berlin Film Festival’s Shooting Stars program in 2024.

A rugged love story in the mountains

Growth of the Soil is based on Hamsun’s Markens Grøde, published in English as Growth of the Soil. Hamsun received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920, and his work has been translated into more than 40 languages, according to Variety.

The story centers on Isak, a man searching for a place to make a home in the Norwegian wilderness. He settles on a rough patch of land above the tree line, where survival depends on patience, labor and luck.

There he meets Inger, a private woman carrying her own strength and secrets. The pair begin building a life together, working the land and raising children as years and seasons pass.

The film’s sweep comes from that long test of endurance: land, family, desire and hardship all pressing in on the couple as their world changes around them.

Moland returns with a literary heavyweight

Moland wrote the screenplay with Gard B. Eidsvold. The director’s earlier films include Zero Kelvin, which starred Stellan Skarsgård and won the Jury Prize at San Sebastián in 1995.

Moland and Skarsgård later worked together on several titles, including Aberdeen, A Somewhat Gentle Man, In Order of Disappearance and Out Stealing Horses.

Variety reported that Moland’s films have earned four Golden Bear nominations and won awards twice. He is also a three-time Amanda Award recipient and received the Amanda Lifetime Achievement Award in 2025.

The cast also includes Eidsvold, Anders Baasmo, Oddgeir Thune and Sjur Vatne Brean. Nordrum’s credits also include The Hypnosis and the upcoming Sense and Sensibility, while August has appeared in The Hypnosis, Kalak and Lars von Trier’s The Kingdom Exodus.

Oskar Dahlsbakken shot the film. Danish composer Kaspar Kaae wrote the original score.

Scandinavian release already set

Tassilo Hallbauer, Beta Cinema’s executive vice president, described the film to Variety as “a powerful and visually stunning epic about love, resilience and survival.” He said Moland delivers an emotional story set against Norway’s mountain scenery.

Growth of the Soil is produced by Hakon Overas of 4 ½ Fiction, with Chris Sanger and Birgitte Skov of Scanbox Productions as co-producers.

The production filmed in Norway from June to December 2025. Scanbox Entertainment is scheduled to release the movie in theaters across Scandinavia on Oct. 30.

This story draws on original reporting from Variety.