Bastarden / The Promised Land / King’s Land

In the year 1755, Captain Ludwig Kahlen, the illegitimate son of a mother who lives in poverty, returns to Denmark after serving in the military. He is resolute in his pursuit of an ambitious project that offers him the opportunity for social advancement: reclaiming barren Danish moors by cultivating potatoes. As a reward for founding a settlement, Kahlen demands a title of nobility from the king. But the wealthy landowner Frederik De Schinkel, who lives nearby, turns out to be a fierce adversary – and a cruel despot. When two of De Schinkel’s serfs take refuge on Kahlen’s farm, the situation escalates. In stunning tableaus, Nikolaj Arcel depicts the struggle with nature, life in the rhythm of the seasons, and the physically exhausting work of clearing, sowing, and harvesting. Kahlen’s settlement, which grows against all odds, becomes a refuge for outcasts, a utopian place amidst a merciless estate-based society.