May el-Toukhy's Woman Unknown wins Golden Lion at 83rd Venice Film Festival
The jury chaired by Maggie Gyllenhaal awarded the Golden Lion to Danish-Egyptian director May el-Toukhy on 12 September 2026, while Mathilde Arcel and John Malkovich took top acting honours.
Golden Lion for Woman Unknown
The 83rd Venice International Film Festival concluded on Saturday, 12 September 2026, after ten days of screenings, with the jury awarding the Golden Lion to Danish-Egyptian filmmaker May el-Toukhy for Woman Unknown (Kvinde Ukendt). Set against the background of post-war Denmark in 1945, the narrative centres on Marie, a domestic worker and nanny who prepares to marry the affluent widower who employs her. Her planned future is destabilised when an unresolved secret from her past resurfaces. Accepting the festival's top honour, el-Toukhy framed the project around historical accountability and the erasure of women's experiences.
Woman Unknown approaches the female body as a battlefield and a public issue. At the same time, it tells the story of invisible, ignored, and voiceless women.
Jury deliberations and acting honours
The jury for the main competition was presided over by American actress and director Maggie Gyllenhaal, alongside jurors Kaouther Ben Hania, Francesco Casetti, Daniel Blumberg, Xavier Giannoli, Shahrbanoo Sadat, and Johnnie To. Danish actress Mathilde Arcel won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress for her portrayal of Marie in Woman Unknown. American actor John Malkovich, aged 72, secured the Volpi Cup for Best Actor for his role in Martin McDonagh's Wild Horse Nine, marking his first acting prize at Venice. El-Toukhy was the only female director competing individually in the official competition, a selection imbalance that had prompted criticism ahead of the festival. During the opening, Gyllenhaal described the low representation of women directors as a systemic issue in the cinema industry, a stance for which el-Toukhy expressed direct gratitude during the awards ceremony.
- Maggie Gyllenhaal addresses systemic underrepresentation of female directors in the selection
- Investigative documentary NAZA receives a 25-minute standing ovation
- The jury awards the Golden Lion to Woman Unknown and announces the official palmarès
Special Jury Prize for NAZA
The jury awarded the Special Jury Prize to NAZA, an Israeli documentary directed by investigative journalists Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor. Constructed around anonymised testimonies from 24 members of the intelligence services, the film had received a 25-minute standing ovation following its premiere on Thursday. During his acceptance speech, Abraham condemned domestic political attacks directed against the film in Israel and noted that at least six children had been killed in Gaza during the ten days of the festival. The presentation followed the screening a year earlier of La Voix de Hind Rajab, which documented the killing of a young Palestinian girl. Abraham urged viewers in Israel and in nations allied with it to watch the documentary directly.
This mass slaughter is systemic. It is not accidental, it is the product of a deliberate intent. It results from murderous acts and policies based on total dehumanization of Palestinians.
Main competition palmarès and Orizzonti awards
The remaining main competition awards recognized entries across Europe and Asia. South Korean filmmaker Lee Chang-dong took the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize for Possible Love, while Russian director Ilya Khrzhanovsky won the Silver Lion for Best Director for DAU. French filmmaker Stéphane Brizé received the award for Best Screenplay for Un bon petit soldat, and Malou Khebizi claimed the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Emerging Actor for her performance in Cédric Kahn's 15/18. In the parallel Orizzonti section, the Belgian feature Un détour par Diane, directed by Ann Sirot and Raphaël Balboni, won Best Film, representing the sole Belgian title in the official selection.
