The End of Quiet (Danish: Den sidste stilhed) is a 2025 documentary film directed by Kasper Bisgaard and Mikael Lypinski. Set in Green Bank, West Virginia, the film follows the lives of residents in the Quiet Zone, where the use of mobile phones and other electronic devices is largely restricted.
It had its world premiere in the Documentary Competition at the 2025 Tribeca Festival on 7 June 2025.
Plot summary
Set in Green Bank, West Virginia, the film follows several residents of the town, which is located within the United States National Radio Quiet Zone. The area is home to the Green Bank Telescope and has restrictions on cellular services and Wi-Fi to limit radio interference. The film explores the lives of residents and their relationship with the restrictions as connectivity becomes increasingly difficult to avoid.
Production According to co-director Kasper Bisgaard, the idea for The End of Quiet originated after he discovered a photograph of the giant dish at Green Bank Observatory. He became interested in people living there and pitched the idea to Mikael Lypinski, who proposed they both collaborate on the film.
The project was initially conceived as a short documentary, but after Bisgaard and Lypinski travelled to Green Bank, West Virginia in May 2019, where they spent a month meeting residents, they realised it had to be a feature-length film.
Production was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which prevented the film crew from returning until 2022. According to Bisgaard, the planned return was for reshoots and small number of additional scenes, but changes in the participants' lives during the three-year absence expanded the scope of the documentary.
Lypinski said that the filmmakers found it easier to build relationships with Green Bank residents because of the town's slower pace of life, which encouraged face-to-face interactions and allowed them to have more intimate conversations with their subjects.
The filmmakers spent approximately two months filming in Green Bank across their 2019 and 2022 visits. The film was produced by Sara Stockmann for Sonntag Pictures.
Release The End of Quiet had its world premiere in the Documentary Competition at the 2025 Tribeca Festival on 7 June 2025. It was subsequently selected for the Environmental Film Programme at the 2025 Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF), where it screened on 13 November 2025.
In 2026, the film screened at the Göteborg Film Festival in the Nordic Competition section, the One World Film Festival in Prague as part of its Vision of Today programme, and the DOK.fest München in the Visions of the Future section.
Reception Critical reviews Sara Clements, writing for Next Best Picture, praised the film's cinematography and soundscape, describing it as "gorgeously shot", but found that some conversations became dull and that certain sequences lacked narrative momentum. She nevertheless concluded that the film "ultimately succeeds in making the invisible visible and the inaudible profound."
Nicki Bruun of Ekko praised the film's imagery and portrayal of Green Bank, but criticized its lack of a unifying perspective and the limited development of its subjects.
Benjamin Damon of Soundvenue praised the film's cinematography, Uno Helmersson's score and its portrayal of the Green Bank community.
Reviewing the film for Politiken, Lucia Odoom gave the film four out of six hearts. She wrote that The End of Quiet portrays the residents of Green Bank with warmth and empathy while using the community to reflect on humanity's relationship with technology. Odoom praised the film's imagery and pacing, arguing that its themes of silence, connection, and what people seek in life make it "a film you think about for days after seeing it."
Accolades Festival/Organisation Year Award/Category Recipient(s) Result Tribeca Festival 2025 Best Documentary Feature Kasper Bisgaard and Mikael Lypinski Best Cinematography – Documentary Feature Mikael Lypinski Best Editing in a Documentary Feature Charlotte Munch Bengtsen and Johan Löfstedt Audience Award – Documentary Kasper Bisgaard and Mikael Lypinski Gothenburg Film Festival 2026 Dragon Award for Best Nordic Documentary Kasper Bisgaard and Mikael Lypinski Audience Award for Best Nordic Film Kasper Bisgaard and Mikael Lypinski One World Film Festival 2026 One World Audience Award Kasper Bisgaard and Mikael Lypinski DOK.fest München 2026 Audience Award Kasper Bisgaard and Mikael Lypinski DOK.edit Award Charlotte Munch Bengtsen and Johan Löfstedt VIKTOR DOK.international Award – Best Film Kasper Bisgaard and Mikael Lypinski TV-Prisen 2026 Best Documentary Sara Stockmann, Kasper Bisgaard and Mikael Lypinski
References
External links
The End of Quiet at the Danish Film Institute The End of Quiet at Letterboxd Official trailer on YouTube