Lonely Woman Director in Venice Sees Industry Backsliding on Gender
- On Sunday, Danish director May el-Toukhy unveiled her drama 'Woman Unknown' at the Venice Film Festival, standing as the only woman directing a fiction film among 21 contenders for the Golden Lion.
- El-Toukhy attributed the scarcity to structural barriers, telling a news conference it took her 'six or seven years' to complete her first film after graduation while male peers advanced faster.
- Inspired by Belarusian writer Svetlana Alexievich's 'The Unwomanly Face of War,' the film explores women accused of relationships with German soldiers during World War II, examining how female bodies became tied to national identity.
- Actress Mathilde Arcel, who plays Marie, said the film sheds light on decades of hidden stigma, noting 'There are women who never even told their families' about wartime experiences, even today during Denmark's Liberation Day.
- El-Toukhy warned that despite post-MeToo awareness, the industry is 'returning to what it used to be' regarding gender imbalance, while joining the Dogma 25 movement to rethink filmmaking practices.
21 Articles
21 Articles
The Danish-Egyptian director came to present her last film: the story in Denmark, at the end of the Second World War, of a nanny who married her employer.
His "Women Unknown" set during the Second World War
‘Woman Unknown’ Review: May el-Toukhy’s Paranoid Period Thriller Depicts the Degradation of Women Accused of Sleeping with Nazis
This harrowing fictionalization of the Danish resistance’s witch hunts, targeting the women who slept with Nazis, will make you despair for humanity.
The low number of women competing for the Grand Prix of the Venice Film Festival reflects a structural problem of the film industry, Danish director May el-Toukhy said on Sunday. With the film "Women Unknown (Unknown Woman), El-Toukhy is the only female director among the 21 competitors for the Golden Lion. A single other film from ...
When asked about the near absence of female directors in the running for the Golden Lion, May el-Toukhy saw a clear resonance with the subject of her film, which tells the story of a woman who survived the war as best she could, but whose past threatens to compromise her just when she thinks she can finally escape. "My film is about… the invisibility of women. It addresses, on the one hand, objectification, and on the other hand, the feeling of…
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