Danish drama Woman Unknown wins top prize at Venice Film Festival

Danish director May el-Toukhy’s post-war drama Woman Unknown has won the Golden Lion for best film at the 83rd Venice Film Festival.

The film’s lead, Mathilde Arcel, also took home the Volpi Cup for best actress. It was a rare double victory at Venice, where juries typically avoid giving multiple major awards to a single movie. Maggie Gyllenhaal, the US director who headed this year's jury, said they made an exception because the vote for Arcel was unanimous.

Woman Unknown (Kvinde Ukendt) follows Marie, a young housemaid in newly liberated Denmark who is preparing to marry her wealthy employer. Her future is threatened by a secret: an intimate wartime relationship with an occupying German soldier. El-Toukhy was the only female filmmaker with a solo directing credit in the 21-film main competition, a disparity that drew criticism during the festival. In her acceptance speech, she pointed to the financial and logistical hurdles women face when trying to get films made.

Gaza documentary wins jury prize

The festival's Special Jury Prize went to NAZA, a controversial documentary by Israeli filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor. Shot secretly over three years on rooftops in Tel Aviv, the film uses anonymous interviews with 24 Israeli military and intelligence insiders to accuse the military of routinely approving civilian deaths during airstrikes in Gaza. The Israeli military has categorically denied the allegations.

The documentary received a 25-minute standing ovation at its premiere. Accepting the award, Abraham said it was difficult to stand on stage while Israeli politicians and journalists attacked the film without seeing it, adding that "denial of the crime is what helps it persist."

Key winners

The runner-up Grand Jury Prize went to South Korean director Lee Chang-dong for Possible Love, a drama about two married couples and a documentary maker. It is Lee’s first film in eight years, following his 2018 feature Burning.

Russian-born director Ilya Khrzhanovsky won the Silver Lion for best director for DAU, an epic biopic of the Soviet quantum physicist Lev Landau. Khrzhanovsky, who has renounced his Russian citizenship, dedicated his award to Ukraine. The film's inclusion had faced criticism from the Ukrainian government over its lead actor’s refusal to condemn the invasion and its historical Russian funding.

John Malkovich was named best actor for his role as an erratic, terminally ill CIA agent in Martin McDonagh’s dark comedy Wild Horse Nine. Malkovich, who was filming in Montreal, accepted the award via video link. The screenplay prize went to Stéphane Brizé, Coralie Amédéo, and Olivier Gorce for the French corporate drama A Good Little Soldier.