Kvinde ukendt 
2026, 124 min.

polish premiere, prepremiera screening

Awards and selections: Venice International Film Festival 2026 – Golden Lion for Best Film and Coppa Volpi for Best Actress (Mathilde Arcel), 2027 Oscars – Denmark’s entry for the Best International Feature Film category
Directed by: May el-Toukhy
Cast: Mathilde Arcel, Carsten Bjørnlund, Marina Bouras, Flora Yde Sander, Anders Brink Madsen
Country: Denmark, Sweden, Latvia

A tense, uncompromising historical thriller about guilt, shame, social hypocrisy, and the price of being given a chance to start life anew.

Copenhagen, just after liberation from the occupation. Marie, a young domestic servant, is about to marry a wealthy widower and gain the social standing she has long desired. She is set to marry an older, affluent widower and enter a world to which she has never before had access.

As a wave of brutal vigilante violence against those suspected of collaboration sweeps through the city streets, the past mercilessly comes back to haunt her. A chance encounter with an old acquaintance forces Marie into a desperate fight for survival — and to conceal a secret that could destroy everything.

In the Media

“When we follow Marie’s choices and try to make simple judgments, the sins we ourselves have committed come back to haunt us. It is only the skill with which May el-Toukhy guides us, and her actress, that allows us to leave the cinema feeling somehow absolved. And that is perhaps the greatest strength and achievement of this minimalist story.”
— Artur Burchacki, Vogue Polska, read the full review here

“Woman Unknown is an empathetically constructed story that only occasionally becomes too explicit. (…) The self-appointed riders of justice see the world in black and white. For Marie, reality is painted in many shades of grey.”
— Małgorzata Czop, Movieway.pl, read the full review here

“A brilliantly crafted film about post-war reckoning and double standards, filled with mounting tension and the sense of a noose tightening ever more firmly around the protagonist’s neck. Simple yet engaging cinema, with outstanding performances. Venice award-winner Mathilde Arcel simply commands the screen, and her reactions carry tremendous impact. Excellent filmmaking.”
— Michał Kaczoń, Film.org.pl, read the full review here

May el-Toukhy

A Danish-Egyptian director and screenwriter. A graduate of the National Film School of Denmark, she rose to international prominence with her Sundance-awarded drama Queen of Hearts (2019). In her films, she masterfully explores morally complex relationships, secrets, and the individual’s resistance to social conventions.

Tags: World War II, post-war Europe, mystery, violence