The WW2 drama produced by Nordisk Film in collaboration with Growing Stories, is handled internationally by TrustNordisk.

The WW2 drama produced by Nordisk Film in collaboration with Growing Stories, is handled internationally by TrustNordisk.

Filming is underway in Ryslinge, on the Danish island of Funen.

Inspired by true events, Before it Ends (Befrielsen) is the Danish language feature length debut of Anders Walter, behind the Oscar winning live-action short film Helium (2014) and US sci-fi feature I Kill Giants (2017). He is reunited with his usually Dop Rasmus Heise and editor Lars Wissing.

Walter spent years researching and preparing for Before it Ends, about a controversial chapter of Danish history, when the nation had to handle hundred thousand of German refugees just before and after the liberation of Denmark in the spring of 1945.

Pilou Asbæk (The Investigation) plays heard-master Jakob and his wife Lis (Katrine Greis-Rosenthal of A Fortunate Man, A Taste of Hunger), suddenly confronted with an impossible dilemma when they are ordered to house over 500 German refugees by the German Nazi occupying forces, just before the liberation. Should they help the refugees who might otherwise die, despite resistance from the entire village, or take a clear stand against the Nazis? At the same time, they discover that their 12-year-old son Søren has joined the resistance.

Besides Pilou Asbæk and Katrine Greis-Rosenthal, the ensemble cast includes Ulrich Thomsen (Trom, The Interrogation), Morten Hee Andersen (Deliver Us, Ride Upon the Storm), the young Lasse Peter Larsen and German actor Peter Kurth (Babylon Berlin).

The film is produced by Mette Høst Hansen and Tomas Radoor of Nordisk Film Production, with Miriam Nørgaard of Growing Stories, co-financing from The Danish Film Institute, Film Fyn, Nordisk Film Distribution, Nordisk Film & TV Fond, TV 2 Denmark, RUV, YLE and TV 2 Norway.

The domestic release via Nordisk Film is scheduled for September 23, 2023.