Jane Campion

At 69 years old, Jane Campion has this physical status:

Dame Elizabeth Jane Campion (born 30 April 1954) is a New Zealand screenwriter, producer, and director.

Campion is the second of five women nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director in history, and she is the first female filmmaker to be coveted with the Palme d'Or for directing The Piano (1993), for which she also received the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

Early life

Campion was born in Wellington, New Zealand, the second daughter of Edith Campion (née Beverley Hannah), an actor, writer, and performer; and Richard M. Campion, a mentor and opera conductor. Robert Hannah, a well-known shoe maker for whom Antrim House was built, was her maternal great-grandfather. Her father came from a family that belonged to the fundamentalist Christian Exclusive Brethren sect. Campion, along with her sister Anna, a year and a half her senior, and brother Michael, who was seven years old, all grew up in the New Zealand theatre world. The New Zealand Players were founded by their parents. Campion rejected the possibility of a career in the dramatic arts initially, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from Victoria University of Wellington in 1975.

She began enrolled in the Chelsea Art School in London in 1976 and travelled around Europe. In 1981, she obtained a graduate diploma in fine arts (painting) from the University of Sydney's Sydney College of the Arts. Campion's later film work was influenced in part by her art school training; she also cited Frida Kahlo and sculptor Joseph Beuys as influences in her mature career.

Campion's dissatisfaction with painting led her to filmmaking and the production of her first short, Tissues, in 1980. She began studying at the Australian Film, Television, and Radio School in 1981, where she made several more short films and graduated in 1984.

Personal life

Colin David Englert, an Australian who served as a second unit director on The Piano, was married by Campion in 1992. Jasper, the family's first child, was born in 1993 but lived for just 12 days. Alice Englert, their second child, was born in 1994; she is an actress. In 2001, the couple wed.

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Career

Peel (1982), Campion's first short film, received the Short Film Palme d'Or at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival, and other accolades followed for the shorts Passionless Moments (1984), A Girl's Own Story (1984), and After Hours (1984). After leaving the Australian Film and Television School, she produced an episode for ABC's light entertainment series Dancing Daze (1986), which culminated in Jan Chapman's first TV film, Two Friends (1986).

Sweetie (1989), her film debut, received international recognition. An Angel at My Table (1990), a biopic about New Zealand writer Janet Frame's life, was released by Laura Jones' screenplay. Widespread recognition followed The Piano (1993), which received the Palme d'Or at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival, Best Director from the Australian Film Institute, and the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1994. Campion was the second woman to be nominated for Best Director for her film The Piano at the 66th Academy Awards.

Nicole Kidman, John Malkovich, Barbara Hershey, and Martin Donovan were all included in Campion's 1996 film The Portrait of a Lady, based on Henry James' book.

Holy Smoke!

(1999) Campion teamed with Harvey Keitel for the second time (the first being The Piano), this time with Kate Winslet as the female lead. Meg Ryan got a glimpse of her more familiar onscreen persona in the Cut (2003), an erotic thriller based on Susanna Moore's book. The Cannes Film Festival featured her 2009 film Bright Star, a biographical drama starring poet John Keats (played by Ben Whishaw) and his partner Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish). Campion talked to Jan Lisa Huttner about how she concentrated on Fanny's side of the film, noting that only two of the film's scenes did not feature her.

Campion created, wrote, and directed the television mini-series Top of the Lake, which received near universal recognition, including for its lead actress Elisabeth Moss, a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Movie/Miniseries, and a Critics' Choice Television Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Film, and was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Movie or a Film. Campion was also selected for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Film, or a Dramatic Special.

She was the head of the jury for the 2013 Cannes Film Festival's Cinéfondation and Short Film sections and the jury for the main competition segment of the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. When Xavier Dolan, a Canadian filmmaker, received the Prix du Jury for his film Mommy, he said that Campion's The Piano "made me want to write roles for women—beautiful women with soul, will, and strength, not victims or objects." Campion responded by rising from her seat to give him a hug.

Campion was nearing an agreement to produce an adaptation of Rachel Kushner's book The Flamethrowers, which was announced in 2014.

Campion announced in 2015 that she will co-direct and co-write a second season of Top of the Lake, as Robin Griffin will reprise her role as Robin Griffin. In 2017, the sequel series titled Top of the Lake: China Girl was released. Location and shooting in Sydney, Top of the Lake: Alice Englert, Campion's daughter, appears in a leading role as Robin's biological daughter. Ewen Leslie, David Dencik, and Nicole Kidman appear in the series as well.

An adaptation of Thomas Savage's book The Power of the Dog was released in 2019, Campion's first film in a decade. In 2021, the film was written and directed by her and premiered at the Venice International Film Festival, where Campion was rewarded with the Silver Lion for Best Direction. The film received numerous accolades and accolades for the direction, screenplay, and performance of the cast of actors, making it highly coveted internationally. At the Golden Globe Awards, AACTA International Awards, Critics' Choice Movie Awards, and Satellite Awards, Campion received three nominations in the respective categories for Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Picture. Following condemnation of her acceptance speech for the Critics Choice Movie Award for Best Director, Campion released an apology to Serena and Venus Williams, saying, "And you know, Serena and Venus, you are such marvels." However, you do not play against the guys as if I must." "I made a thoughtless comment equating what I do in the film world with all the Serena Williams and Venus Williams have accomplished," she said. "I did not intend to devalue these two legendary Black women and world-class athletes." In February 2022, the film received 12 awards at the 94th Academy Awards, leading to the year's Oscar nominations. The film was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor for Kirsten Dunst, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actor for both Kodi Smit-McPhee and Jesse Plemons. Campion became the first woman to receive multiple Best Director honors, and she was named Best Director for the film. She is also the first female to win Best Director without first receiving a corresponding Best Picture.

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