She's the 8th Female Director to Win Prestigious Venice Prize

Woman Unknown, a drama about Denmark in the aftermath of the Nazi occupation directed by May el-Toukhy, won the prestigious Golden Lion at the 83rd Venice Film Festival on Saturday, per the AP. El-Toukhy, who was the only woman to have solely directed a film in the main competition this year, is the eighth woman to have won the festival's top prize. The prize jury led by actor Maggie Gyllenhaal announced the winners. See the full list via Deadline, which includes a best actor prize for John Malkovich for his performance in the dark CIA comedy Wild Horse Nine.

Woman Unknown, which does not yet have distribution in North America, is centered on a young nanny and housemaid who is about to marry her wealthy employer in the immediate aftermath of the war. But she harbors a secret past intimate relationship with a German soldier that threatens to upend her reputation. The lead, Mathilde Arcel, won the festival's best actress prize. "To me personally, Woman Unknown is about the female body as a battleground," el-Toukhy said. "At the same time, the film tells the tale of women who are unseen, invisible, and voiceless."