For her role in the film "The Unknown Woman," Danish actress Matilda Arkel received the Venice Film Festival award for Best Actress. Most of the film — 25 out of 28 shooting days — was filmed in Riga. The film centers around a young nanny and housekeeper named Maria, played by Arkel. She is preparing to marry the homeowner — a wealthy widower named Christian, who is older than her. However, the young woman harbors a shameful secret: during World War II, she had an intimate relationship with a German soldier. Now the past threatens to catch up with Maria, and in the post-war chaos, she is forced to do everything possible to maintain her new status as the lady of the house. A similar fate befell thousands of other women who, in 1945, during the weeks leading up to and immediately after the liberation of Denmark, were persecuted and publicly humiliated by their compatriots for having intimate relationships with German soldiers. The film is a co-production of the Danish and Swedish film studio Nordisk Film Production and the Latvian film studio Nafta Films.
