Denmark Sends Venice Winner 'Woman Unknown' Into the Oscars Race
Denmark has chosen May el-Toukhy's `Woman Unknown' as its official entry for the Academy Award for best international feature, the category for films made outside the United States in languages other than English, as reported by Variety on 25 September.
The choice follows a big win in Venice. `Woman Unknown' took the Golden Lion, the top honour at the Venice Film Festival.
That victory came at the festival's 83rd edition, according to The New York Times. The jury was led by actor and film-maker Maggie Gyllenhaal. El-Toukhy was the sole female director in the main competition, Variety reported.
It was a clean sweep. Mathilde Arcel also won the Coppa Volpi, Venice's prize for best actress, for her performance in the film.
The win put el-Toukhy in rare company. She became only the second Danish director to take the Golden Lion, after Carl Th. Dreyer's `Ordet' in 1955.
`Woman Unknown' is set in Copenhagen in May 1945, in the final days of the Second World War. It follows Marie, a Danish housemaid preparing to marry her wealthy employer, an older widower, a setup detailed by Reuters and Variety.
El-Toukhy arrived in Venice with a track record. Her earlier feature Queen of Hearts' won the Audience Award at Sundance and both the Robert and Bodil awards, Denmark's national film prizes. She has also directed episodes of the television series The Crown'.
She is also one of the initiators of Dogma25, a set of film-making rules launched at the Cannes Film Festival in 2025 and organised as a successor to the Dogma 95 movement.
Behind the Oscar submission is a familiar Danish setup. The film was produced by Mikael Christian Rieks for Nordisk Film Production and supported by the Danish Film Institute. The Danish Oscar committee that selected it was chaired by Tine Fischer, chief executive of the Danish Film Institute.
The festival run continues. `Woman Unknown' has played at Toronto and is lined up for the BFI London Film Festival and Busan, Variety reported. It will open in Danish cinemas on 4 Feb.
What makes this stand out is the calendar. A Venice top prize gives a film early attention, and the festival stops in Toronto, London and Busan keep it in front of audiences and Academy voters through the autumn.
