Magnolia pictures has dropped a new trailer for Mads Mikkelsen’s historical drama, “The Promised Land” which is the Denmark’s Official Submission for the International Feature Film for the 96th Academy Awards. 

Directed by Nikolaj Arcel who has previously teamed up with Mikkelsen for the 2012 acclaimed drama “A Royal Affair,” the 127-minute feature is written by Arcel and based on Ida Jessen’s novel The Captain and Ann Barbara, the film also stars Amanda Collin, Gustav Lindh, Simon Bennebjerg, and Melina Hagberg.

Set in 18th-century Denmark, “The Promised Land,” which Arcel described as his “most personal film to date,” chronicles the story of an impoverished veteran soldier named Ludvig Kahlen as he embarks on a journey to establish a colony in an uninhabitable land.

“The Promised Land” Synopsis : In 18th century Denmark, Captain Ludvig Kahlen (Mads Mikkelsen) – a proud, ambitious, but impoverished war hero — sets out to tame a vast, uninhabitable land on which seemingly nothing can grow. He seeks to start farming crops, build a colony in the name of the King, and gain a noble title for himself. 

This beautiful but forbidding area also happens to be under the rule of the merciless Frederik De Schinkel, a preening nobleman who realizes the threat Kahlen represents to his power. Struggling against the elements and local brigands, Kahlen is joined by a couple who have fled the clutches of the rapacious De Schinkel. As this group of misfits begins to build a small community in this inhospitable place, De Schinkel swears vengeance, and the confrontation between him and Kahlen promises to be as violent and intense as these two men.

“The Promised Land” will hit theaters on February 2, 2024.