El-Toukhy Stops Venice Premiere Over Subtitle Glitch — SkimNews
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- May el-Toukhy stopped the world premiere screening of "Woman Unknown" at the Venice Film Festival on Sunday evening after the subtitles went out of sync; the director was seen walking out of the auditorium to the sound of a ringing phone.
- Producer Mikael Riek told the audience the screening would rewind 15 minutes; a handful of spectators left but most stayed, and the film ultimately received a 7½-minute ovation.
- "Woman Unknown" stars Mathilde Arcel as nanny Marie in 1945 Denmark, whose marriage to a wealthy older widowed employer (Carsten Bjørnlund) is threatened by a WWII secret about women accused of fraternizing with German soldiers during the occupation.
- El-Toukhy was initially the only woman among 20 directors announced for the Venice main competition; she has since been joined by Rachel Szor, co-director with Yuval Abraham of the late addition "Neza."
- El-Toukhy told Deadline the lack of women in competition "has weighed on her since," calling the gender imbalance "a structural problem" that is "as old as cinema and even older," and noting her film also speaks to "the invisibility of women, in a historical context."
- El-Toukhy wore a white gown with an embroidered red detail symbolizing blood on her back for the red carpet appearance earlier that evening.
Why it matters: El-Toukhy was the only woman among 20 directors initially announced for Venice's main competition and called the gender gap "a structural problem" — making the festival's women-directors shortage the substantive story behind the premiere snafu. The film's WWII subject about women accused of collaborating with Germans also dovetails with her own comments about "the invisibility of women" historically and today.
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