Born in Copenhagen in 1977 to a Danish mother and an Egyptian father, May el-Toukhy is a Danish director. Her early work includes Long Story Short. Queen of Hearts (2019), the story of a lawyer who has an affair with her teenage stepson, won the Audience Award in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at Sundance in 2019. Woman Unknown (2026), a post-war drama about a Danish housemaid who hides a relationship with a German soldier, won the Golden Lion for best film at the 83rd Venice Film Festival, where she was nearly the only woman in the competition, and its lead Mathilde Arcel won the Volpi Cup for best actress.
Filmography
- Queen of Hearts (2019)
- Woman Unknown (2026)