The Golden Lion went to the quietest film in the room. Woman Unknown, May el-Toukhy’s postwar Danish drama, won the top prize at the 83rd Venice Film Festival on Saturday (Sept. 12), and the jury led by Maggie Gyllenhaal gave it a second prize too: Mathilde Arcel took the Volpi Cup for best actress.
The film follows a young nanny and housemaid who is about to marry her wealthy employer in the immediate aftermath of the Nazi occupation of Denmark, AP reported, but she harbors a secret relationship with a German soldier that could undo her reputation. El-Toukhy is the eighth woman to win the festival’s top prize and was the only woman to direct a competition feature on her own this year. Gyllenhaal had called the shortage of female directors on the Lido “a systemic problem” at the festival’s opening press conference, as TheWrap noted.
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Accepting the award, el-Toukhy tied the film to that argument, and thanked Gyllenhaal for using her voice.
To me personally, ‘Woman Unknown’ is about the female body as a battleground. At the same time the film tells the tale of women who are unseen, invisible and voiceless.
May el-Toukhy, accepting the Golden Lion, AP via Local 10
Arcel was visibly emotional on stage, AP said. “This is my first lead role in a movie and my first time at a film festival,” she said. The film does not yet have North American distribution; TrustNordisk is handling sales, according to Screen Daily.
The rest of the palmarès read like an awards-season map. John Malkovich won best actor for Martin McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine, accepting by video message because he was shooting in Montreal; he said he was “humbled to be chosen for this award which has been given to so many wonderful actors.” Lee Chang-dong’s Possible Love took the Silver Lion grand jury prize, and Netflix will release it in November, Screen Daily said. AV Club notes it has already been selected to represent South Korea in the international feature Oscar race. Ilya Khrzhanovsky won best director for DAU.
The special jury prize went to NAZA, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor’s documentary in which Israeli military insiders describe their actions in Gaza. TheWrap reports that Abraham and Szor were part of the team that won the documentary Oscar for No Other Land. In his speech, Abraham said it was especially important to the filmmakers that Israelis watch the film. AP reported that it drew a record-breaking standing ovation of some 25 minutes after its premiere.
The starrier Hollywood entries were shut out, AP noted, including Primetime, in which Phoebe Bridgers acts, Bunker and Ink. Last year’s Golden Lion went to Jim Jarmusch’s Father Mother Sister Brother, a film Saint Laurent Productions backed. Venice and its fall siblings are now an early read on the Oscar race; another festival winner, TIFF’s People’s Choice pick, is in our report on La Bola Negra.
Added to the High Grailed archive on October 12, 2026.
