Denmark Submits Venice Winner 'Woman Unknown' to Oscars — SkimNews
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- May el-Toukhy's "Woman Unknown" has been chosen as Denmark's official entry for the Oscar international feature film race.
- "Woman Unknown" won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, where a jury presided over by Maggie Gyllenhaal awarded the prize, making el-Toukhy only the second Danish director to win the top Venice honor after Carl Th. Dreyer's "Ordet" in 1955.
- Mathilde Arcel earned the Coppa Volpi for best actress for her lead performance in the film.
- Tine Fischer, CEO of the Danish Film Institute and chair of the selection committee, described the film as "bold and uncompromising," exploring guilt, shame and how "women's bodies and destinies become the focus of society's condemnation and control."
- The film is set in Copenhagen in May 1945, following a maid named Marie whose shameful past threatens her upcoming marriage to an older widower she works for.
- El-Toukhy previously directed Sundance Audience Award winner "Queen of Hearts," helmed episodes of "The Crown," and co-initiated the Dogma25 movement launched at Cannes 2025.
- Produced by Mikael Christian Rieks for Nordisk Film Production, the film released in Danish cinemas on Feb. 4 after festival stops at Toronto, BFI London and Busan.
Why it matters: With the Venice Golden Lion already secured — only the second Danish film to claim the prize in seven decades — "Woman Unknown" enters the Oscar race as one of the most decorated international submissions of the cycle, giving the Danish Film Institute a clear awards-season flagship and the film's Feb. 4 domestic release a built-in platform.
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