Beta Cinema has sold Hans Petter Moland’s “Growth of the Soil,” Norway’s Oscar submission, in 15 territories, including North America and the United Kingdom. Greenwich Entertainment took the film for North America, and Conic secured the U.K. and Ireland. Other buyers include Neue Visionen for Germany and Austria, Teodora Film for Italy, A Contracorriente Films for Spain and Imovision for Brazil. Palace Films will handle Australia and New Zealand. Distributors in Benelux, Switzerland, Greece, the Baltics, Hungary, Bulgaria, India and Indonesia also signed on.
The deals follow a strong autumn run. The film premiered in September at the Toronto International Film Festival and moved to San Sebastián, where it won the Silver Shell for best leading performance and the jury prize for cinematography. It later played Warsaw, Rio, Denver and Mar del Plata, opened the Bergen Film Festival and landed on the European Film Awards shortlist. At home, it opened at No. 1 at the Norwegian box office after Scanbox released it Oct. 30.
Adapted from Knut Hamsun’s 1917 novel, the film follows Isak, a man with no past who crosses mountains to build a life on harsh, empty land. He meets Inger, as resilient as he is, and together they raise a home and family until ambition and a changing world reshape their bond and the landscape. Herbert Nordrum and Asta Kamma August lead the cast. Moland wrote the script with Gard B. Eidsvold, and the production shot entirely in Norway from June to December 2025.
The selection marks the second time Norway has picked a Moland film for the Oscars, after “Out Stealing Horses” in 2019. The Norwegian Oscar committee chose “Growth of the Soil” over two other finalists, citing its artistic quality, experienced team and a strong international campaign plan.
The source material brings baggage. The novel won Hamsun the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920, but the author later backed Nazi Germany, and that record still shadows his legacy. One review at San Sebastián noted that the film leaves the novel’s premise untouched, a text that works as a manifesto for extreme individualism. Other critics have praised the performances and the filmmaking as sweeping and traditional. Those cross-currents may help drive discussion as the film heads into awards season.
