The Promised Land

The Promised Land (Danish: Bastarden, ) is a 2023 epic historical drama film directed by Nikolaj Arcel from a screenplay by Arcel & Anders Thomas Jensen. Starring Mads Mikkelsen, Amanda Collin and Simon Bennebjerg accompanied by Kristine Kujath Thorp, Gustav Lindh, Jakob Lohmann, Morten Hee Andersen, Magnus Krepper and Felix Kramer. It is based on the book The Captain and Ann Barbara by Ida Jessen. It is a co-production between Denmark, Germany and Sweden. The Promised Land had its world premiere on 31 August 2023 at the 80th Venice International Film Festival where it competed for the Golden Lion. It was selected as the Danish entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards. Synopsis Poor soldier, Ludvig Kahlen, arrives in 1755 on the barren Jutland heath with a single goal: to follow the king's call to cultivate the land and thereby achieve wealth and honor himself. But Kahlen quickly makes an enemy. The merciless landowner, Frederik De Schinkel, who is sole ruler of the area, believes that the heath belongs to him and not the king. When De Schinkel's serf runs away with his wife Ann Barbara and seeks refuge with Kahlen, the landowner does everything to drive Kahlen away and at the same time exact a cruel revenge. Kahlen does not bow, but stubbornly takes up the unequal battle and now risks both his life, but also the bond with the small, troubled family that has arisen around him on the heath. Cast Mads Mikkelsen as Ludvig Kahlen Amanda Collin as Ann Barbara Simon Bennebjerg as Frederik de Schinkel Melina Hagberg as Anmai Mus Kristine Kujath Thorp as Edel Helene Gustav Lindh as Anton Eklund Morten Hee Andersen as Johannes Eriksen Thomas W. Gabrielsson as Bondo Magnus Krepper as Hector Søren Malling as Paulli Morten Burian as Lauenfeldt Jacob Lohmann as Trappaud Olaf Højgaard as Preisler Felix Kramer