JANE CAMPION
Name: Jane Campion
Born: 30 April 1954 Wellington, New Zealand
Jane Campion (born April 30, 1954 in Wellington, New Zealand) is an Academy
Award-winning film maker. She is one of the most internationally successful New
Zealand directors, although most of her work has been made in or financed by
other countries, principally Australia – where she now lives – and the U.S.
Campion attended the Australian Film Television and Radio School early in its
history, where she learned the craft that has resulted in a career that spans
fourteen films as director, three as producer and eight as writer.
Her first short film, Peel (1982) won the Palme D'Or at the 1986 Cannes Film
Festival and other awards followed for the shorts Passionless Moments (1983) and
Girls Own Story (1984). Sweetie (1989) was her feature debut, and won
international awards. Further recognition followed with An Angel at my Table (1990),
an autobiographical and psychological portrayal of the poet Janet Frame.
International recognition followed with another Palme d'Or at Cannes in 1993 for
The Piano, which won the best director award from the Australian Film Institute
and an Oscar for best screenplay in 1994. At the 66th Academy Awards she was the
second woman ever to be nominated best director.
Campion's work since that time has tended to polarize opinion. The Portrait of a
Lady (1996), based on the Henry James novel, featured Nicole Kidman, John
Malkovich, Barbara Hershey and Martin Donovan. Holy Smoke! (1999) teamed Campion
again with Harvey Keitel, this time with Kate Winslet as the female lead. In the
Cut (2003), an erotic thriller based on Susanna Moore's bestseller, provided Meg
Ryan an opportunity to depart from her more familiar onscreen persona.
Campion was an executive producer for the 2006 documentary Abduction: The Megumi
Yokota Story.
Name: Jane Campion
Born: 30 April 1954 Wellington, New Zealand
Jane Campion (born April 30, 1954 in Wellington, New Zealand) is an Academy
Award-winning film maker. She is one of the most internationally successful New
Zealand directors, although most of her work has been made in or financed by
other countries, principally Australia – where she now lives – and the U.S.
Campion attended the Australian Film Television and Radio School early in its
history, where she learned the craft that has resulted in a career that spans
fourteen films as director, three as producer and eight as writer.
Her first short film, Peel (1982) won the Palme D'Or at the 1986 Cannes Film
Festival and other awards followed for the shorts Passionless Moments (1983) and
Girls Own Story (1984). Sweetie (1989) was her feature debut, and won
international awards. Further recognition followed with An Angel at my Table (1990),
an autobiographical and psychological portrayal of the poet Janet Frame.
International recognition followed with another Palme d'Or at Cannes in 1993 for
The Piano, which won the best director award from the Australian Film Institute
and an Oscar for best screenplay in 1994. At the 66th Academy Awards she was the
second woman ever to be nominated best director.
Campion's work since that time has tended to polarize opinion. The Portrait of a
Lady (1996), based on the Henry James novel, featured Nicole Kidman, John
Malkovich, Barbara Hershey and Martin Donovan. Holy Smoke! (1999) teamed Campion
again with Harvey Keitel, this time with Kate Winslet as the female lead. In the
Cut (2003), an erotic thriller based on Susanna Moore's bestseller, provided Meg
Ryan an opportunity to depart from her more familiar onscreen persona.
Campion was an executive producer for the 2006 documentary Abduction: The Megumi
Yokota Story.