
Mads Mikkelsen cuts a formidable figure in this enthralling period drama, set in mid-18th century Jutland. As the earthier original Danish title indicates, Mikkelsen’s Ludvig Kahlen is illegitimate, the son of a maid who nonetheless earns himself the rank of captain in the King’s army, and persuades the crown to back him in a plan to farm the inhospitable northern heath lands. As if this wasn’t challenge enough, Ludvig must contend with the nefarious enmity of the county judge (Simon Bennebjerg), an unscrupulous landowner who despises this unwelcome interloper.
Co-written and directed by Nikolaj Arcel, whose 2012 collaboration with Mikkelsen, A Royal Affair, resulted in an Academy Award nomination, The Promised Land is a good old fashioned melodrama told with vigor and finesse, and reflective of contemporary concerns around equality and diversity. It’s also a fabulous reminder of just how good an actor Mads Mikkelsen really is.
This is a big Nordic Western that maintains its gravitas throughout… The Promised Land is a terrific story driven by skillful writing and strong performances. There’s an art to bringing vitality and modernity to historical drama, and Arcel shows a firm grasp of it.
David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
Mads Mikkelsen, Amanda Collin
Denmark/Germany/Sweden
2023
Special Presentations
In Danish with English subtitles
Violence, Depictions of Racism
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits
Producer
Louise Vesth
Screenwriter
Anders Thomas Jensen, Nikolaj Arcel
Cinematography
Rasmus Videbæk
Editor
Oliviér Bugge Coutté
Director

Nikolaj Arcel
Arcel has written a large number of scripts including the adaptation of the first film in the highly acclaimed Millennium trilogy, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009). His feature film A Royal Affair, which he both wrote and directed, won the Silver Bear for best script at Berlin in 2012 and was nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Foreign Language category. Since then Arcel has directed The Dark Tower, and has written a number of critically acclaimed films, which makes him one of the most sought-after both writers and directors in Scandinavia.
Filmography: Truth About Men (2010); A Royal Affair (2012); The Dark Tower (2017)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
The Graduate
In The Graduate Benjamin (Dustin Hoffman, 30 playing 20 with masterly understatement) comes home from college and is surprised to be seduced by the wife of his father's business partner, Mrs Robinson (Anne Bancroft).
blur: To the End
Now in their late 50s, Britpopsters blur (of Song 2 fame) do a celebratory lap of Great Britain culminating in their first ever Wembley Stadium show in this appealing observational doc. A companion piece to the concert film Live at Wembley Stadium.
Midnight Cowboy
Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman are street hustlers on different ends of the innocence / experience spectrum who establish something more than a business partnership in the seedy world of late 60s New York City in John Schlesinger's New Hollywood classic.
Sinners
This year's unexpected box office sleeper is that rare beast, a genre movie full of bold invention and surprise. We are in Mississippi in the early 1930s, and the opening of a new blues joint on the edge of town is the signal for all hell to break out.
The Headless Woman
The pictures tell the story -- and you better not blink -- when Veronica (the superb Maria Onetto) hits something on the road home. But what? She is too traumatized, or panic-stricken, to go back and look, and her fears are too terrible to acknowledge.