Buzzy Trine Dyrholm series “The Danish Woman” will be making its international debut at Series Mania’s International Panorama section in March.
Dyrholm, currently in the midst of the Oscar campaign for “The Girl with the Needle,” plays Ditte Jensen, who retires with honors from the Danish Secret Service. She wants to live a quiet life in Reykjavik, but Ditte can’t just stop being who she is: an elite soldier and a warrior. Now, she will try to help her neighbors. Whether they want it or not.
Directed by award-winning Benedikt Erlingsson, also behind “Woman at War” and “Of Horses and Men,” the six-episode show will premiere in January 2026. International sales are handled by The Party Film Sales.
“After ‘Woman at War’ I wanted to continue with this concept of ‘end justifying the means’ and look at it from a different angle. Ditte Jensen is the result,” Erlingsson told Variety.
“She’s a contradiction: an explosive walking on two legs. She is a warrior and a gardener, but she cultivates her garden – and builds her society – with the methods of a warrior. Kind of like international politics but in a domestic arena.”
Although Danish star Dyrholm has done “almost everything” during her “incredibly diverse” career, in the show, “we get perhaps a condensed rainbow of her many faces.”
“She’s playing a kind of chameleon who transforms herself according to the circumstances but is also sincere and true at the same time. It takes a truly unique actor and professional to pull this off,” he added.
“It may not be something that comes across in the trailer or the promotional material, but there’s a lot of singing and dancing in ‘The Danish Woman’. There is nothing more revealing and human than seeing people dance. Trine Dyrholm is a wonderful dancer and singer of the highest class, like the Danish Woman herself in the series.”
Written by Erlingsson and Olafur Egill Egilsson, the series is produced by Marianne Slot and Carine Leblanc for Slot Machine, in co-production with Iceland’s Gullslottid and Zik Zak Filmworks.
“[In Europe] we must compete with series that have financial means beyond what we can ever dream to raise. We need to be very creative and put the money in the right places, and to aim high with artistic ambitions,” said Marianne Slot.
“We need to preserve diversity and to remain original – as AI is not, by definition. That’s our biggest strength, enabling us to ‘catch’ the audience. ‘The Danish Woman’ will take you for a wild and entertaining ride, and we’re sure she will surprise you. We’ll be amazed if someone is able to foresee where she’ll be taking you. Even if they do, the ride is still worth it.”
Slot will reunite with Erlingsson also on his upcoming feature. But it won’t focus on women.
“You could answer this in a Freudian way and say that I have a soft spot for women and just want to please them. Which is, of course, true. In reality, it doesn’t matter: It’s just a story. Some stories are about men, some are about women, and some are about men and women and people who don’t identify us either. But my next film will be about men. Men about men, from a man’s perspective. And it will be called ‘Normal Men.’”
The Danish Woman
©SlotMachine
