Noer studied at the European Film College and later at the National Film School of Denmark, where he graduated from the documentary programme in 2003.

[2] Co-directing with Tobias Lindholm, Noer made his narrative feature debut with the 2010 prison drama R, which won the Bodil Award for Best Danish Film and the Robert Award for Best Danish Film and earned them the Robert Award for Best Director.

He subsequently directed Northwest and Key House Mirror, which were released in 2013 and in 2015, respectively.

[3] In 2018, Before the Frost, his fifth feature set in 19th-century rural Denmark, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.

It also competed at the Tokyo International Film Festival, where it won the Special Jury Prize and the Award for Best Actor.