Venice competition entry 'Woman Unknown' tackles rarely filmed postwar punishment of women accused of fraternisation

May el-Toukhy's 'Woman Unknown,' a Venice 83 main competition entry, screens at the PalaBiennale on 7 September 2026. The 124-minute Danish-language co-production (Denmark, Sweden, Latvia) dramatises public punishment of women from Nazi-occupied countries who had sexual relations with German soldiers. Mathilde Arcel plays Marie, a Copenhagen housemaid hiding that past. El-Toukhy co-wrote with Maren Louise Kaehne (Variety; La Biennale).