Jane Campion

Bio

Jane Campion was born and raised in Wellington as the daughter of theatre director, Richard Campion, and stage actress, Edith Campion film seemed to be a natural path to follow , as did her sister, Anna, who has also directed films.

Campion completed a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology at Victoria University and went on to travel a bit of Europe before coming to Australia to attend the Australian Film, Television and Radio School.

Over the years Campion has won a range of awards for her films including a Silver Condor, several AFI awards, and a range of others. Her most impressive was perhaps when she the second female to be nominated for an Oscar in the Best Director category for her film The Piano 1993, she didn’t win but went away with an Oscar for ‘Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen’ for the same film.

Filmography

2012Top of the Lake (TV series) (pre-production)  2009Bright Star  2008Cinema16: World Short Films (video short)  2008 (segment "The Water Diary")  2007To Each His Own Cinema (segment "The Lady Bug")  2006The Water Diary (short)  2003In the Cut  1999Holy Smoke  1996The Portrait of a Lady 1993The Piano 1990An Angel at My Table 1989 Sweetie  1987Two Friends (TV movie)  1986Dancing Daze (TV series)  1984After Hours (short)  1984A Girl's Own Story (short)  1984Mishaps of Seduction and Conquest (video short)  1983Passionless Moments (short)  1982An Exercise in Discipline - Peel (short) 

Favourite Actors

Campion has stated that Kerry Fox, who played Janet Frame in ‘An Angel At My Table’ which she earned international recognition for, is a close friend and trusted actress, “I've known Kerry so long that I can just dial her up. It's like baking a cake: I'll say, 'That needs to go on the back burner for 45 minutes at 300 degrees' and the result is always perfect.” She most recently played the main character’s mother in Campion’s last film ‘Bright Star’.

Style

Many have described Campion as a feminist she doesn’t use the term for herself, director but complains, “There are not a lot of films where the women are heroes”, she doesn’t wish to be narrowly identified as a feminist director but her films have been taken up by feminist film critics for their depiction of strong female characters rebelling against the roles expected of them in society

She says her style has adapted over the years, “As a very young filmmaker I was particularly committed to what was nasty, what isn’t spoken about in life” but now she describes her style of film as “a little more balanced”.

Current Projects

‘Top Of The Lake’ Campion is currently directing a mini-series called ‘Top Of The

Lake’. Campion who writes and directs it said “I am in love with the intense beauty of southern most New Zealand and am excited to be setting a story in this end of the world paradise. To be able to tell the story over six hours gives myself and my brilliant team a chance to make something truly absorbing and memorable.” The series will be co-produced by BBC Two, UKTV in Australia and New Zealand and Sundance Channel in the United States. Screen Australia, Screen NSW and Fulcrum Media Finance are providing investment and finance and will feature a brilliant award-winning cast Elisabeth Moss, , Holly Hunter, Peter Mullan and David Wenham. It will be Campion’s first production in her homeland since ‘An Angel At My Table’.

Impact On New Zealand

The 1990s saw New Zealand start to gain International recognition for our filmmaking, Campion’s, ‘The Piano’, was a major contributor for this as it won three academy awards. The film has since made it on to US National Society of Film Critics' list of '100 Essential Films' of all time, alongside films such as Citizen Kane, The Godfather and Casablanca.