Danish drama Woman Unknown takes the Golden Lion at the 83rd Venice Film Festival

A jury led by the American actress and director Maggie Gyllenhaal gave the Golden Lion, the top prize of the Venice International Film Festival, to Kvinde Ukendt (Woman Unknown) by the Danish-Egyptian filmmaker May el-Toukhy on 12 September 2026. The film, a co-production of Denmark, Sweden and Latvia, also earned its lead, Mathilde Arcel, the Coppa Volpi for best actress.

According to the trade paper Screen Daily, Woman Unknown is set shortly after the Nazi occupation of Denmark and follows a young housekeeper with a secret as she prepares to marry her wealthy employer. It was the only one of the 21 films in competition directed solely by a woman, and it is el-Toukhy’s third feature and her first since Queen of Hearts, which was Denmark’s Academy Award submission in 2020.

In her acceptance speech, el-Toukhy referred to the “lack of equal opportunities for female filmmakers in our industry”, Screen Daily reported. She said the film had been “incredibly challenging to make financially, logistically, emotionally”, and went on: “And what kept me going was the urgent need to illuminate the unknown women of our common history, to make them known.”

The other main prizes

The jury’s decisions in the main competition, as published by La Biennale di Venezia, the body that organises the festival, were:

• Golden Lion for best film:
  Woman Unknown, May el-Toukhy (Denmark, Sweden, Latvia)
• Silver Lion – Grand Jury Prize:
  Possible Love, Lee Chang-dong (South Korea)
• Silver Lion – best director: Ilya Khrzhanovsky for DAU (Germany, France, Sweden)
• Coppa Volpi, best actress: Mathilde Arcel, Woman Unknown
• Coppa Volpi, best actor: John Malkovich, Wild Horse Nine by Martin McDonagh (UK, USA, Chile)
• Best screenplay: Stéphane Brizé, Coralie Amédéo and Olivier Gorce, A Good Little Soldier (France)
• Special Jury Prize:
  NAZA, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor (UK)
• Marcello Mastroianni Award for a young performer: Malou Khebizi, 15/18 (A Place to Heal) by Cédric Kahn (France)

Possible Love is the South Korean director Lee Chang-dong’s first film since Burning in 2018. Malkovich did not attend; he thanked McDonagh by video message for “gifting me a fantastic role”.

A documentary on Gaza

NAZA, by the Israeli filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, is a documentary in which members of Israel’s Intelligence Corps are interviewed about their actions in Gaza, Screen Daily reported. Euronews and the AV Club both reported that its festival screening drew a standing ovation of about 25 minutes, which they described as the longest recorded at Venice.

“We believe that denial of the crime is what helps it persist,” Abraham said on stage, according to Screen Daily. “That is why it is incredibly important for us that Israelis watch this film.”

Khrzhanovsky’s DAU is part of a long-running, multi-format project about a Soviet physicist. Euronews reported that the director, who has renounced his Russian citizenship in protest at the war in Ukraine, dedicated his prize to Ukrainians.

Other sections and attendance

In the Orizzonti (Horizons) section, the best film award went to Un détour par Diane (Diane in the Loop) by Ann Sirot and Raphaël Balboni, a Belgian-French production. The Lion of the Future for a debut film went to La Maison du vent (House of the Wind) by Auguste Bernard Kouemo Yanghu, a co-production involving Cameroon, France, Belgium and other countries. George Clooney and Ellen Burstyn received Golden Lions for lifetime achievement during the festival.

Gyllenhaal’s jury consisted of Kaouther Ben Hania, Daniel Blumberg, Francesco Casetti, Xavier Giannoli, Shahrbanoo Sadat and Johnnie To. The festival ran from 2 to 12 September on the Venice Lido and closed with Giovanni Veronesi’s Dio ride, shown out of competition. La Biennale said 117,656 tickets were sold to the public, 14% more than in 2025.

The previous woman to win the Golden Lion was Laura Poitras, in 2022, for All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, the AV Club noted. The 2025 award went to Jim Jarmusch’s Father Mother Sister Brother.