May el-Toukhy and Maren Louise Käehne on 'Queen of Hearts'

Interview, February 2020.
It was a fantastic first year for 'Queen of Hearts'. Premiering in early 2019, director May el-Toukhy and screenwriter Maren Louise Käehne's drama was declared a "major work" by Danish critics. The film also met with an enthusiastic international reception, taking home an audience award at Sundance and the top Nordic Council Film Prize for its daring take on power, desire and family secrets.
May el-Toukhy and Maren Louise Käehne talk about their work on the film and audience reactions on the occasion of receiving the Dreyer Award 2020 in Copenhagen. The annual award, named after Danish cinema's most distinguished classic figure, Carl Theodor Dreyer, celebrates outstanding artistic achievement among primarily young filmmakers.
"Although what she does is not only criminal but also morally completely wrong, many people have invested themselves in her character, rooting for her quite a lot," says screenwriter Maren Louise Käehne about the audience's experience of the main character Anne in 'Queen of Hearts'.
In the interview, Maren Louise Käehne and May el-Toukhy also talk about how they as filmmakers are driven by characters and actions they don't understand, about the film's complex female protagonist and their aesthetic choices.
'Queen of Hearts' is produced by Caroline Blanco and René Ezra for Nordisk Film with support from the Danish Film Institute. Sales are handled by TrustNordisk.
Read more about the film in the Danish Film Database: www.dfi.dk/en/viden-om-film/f...