Jane Campion

Jane Campion (born April 30, 1954 in Wellington, New Zealand) is a film director. She is one of the most internationally successful New Zealand directors, although she claims not to identify closely with that country, and most of her work has been made in or financed by other countries, principally Australia??where she now lives??and the USA. 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 14 films as director, three as producer and eight as writer.

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April 30 - 1954 - Wellington - New Zealand - Film director - Australia - USA

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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 this won international awards. Further recognition followed with An Angel at my Table (1990), a dramatised autobiography of the poet Janet Frame. International recognition followed with a Golden Palm prize 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.

Related Topics:
The Piano - Australian Film Institute

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Since then, her subsequent, more experimental and abrasive work has been less popular with the public. For example, The Portrait of a Lady (1996) was based on the Henry James novel of the same name, and starred Nicole Kidman, John Malkovich and Barbara Hershey, but was not well-received by critics nor film-goers. Holy Smoke (1999) starred two players well-versed in quirky roles, Harvey Keitel and Kate Winslet, but the plot quickly reduces to the man-versus-woman dynamic that informs Campion's oeuvre. Whilst there is a degree of eroticism in Holy Smoke, her next film, In the Cut (2003) is an erotic thriller based on Susanna Moore's bestseller, but it has not been well-received either.

Related Topics:
Nicole Kidman - Holy Smoke - Harvey Keitel - Kate Winslet - In the Cut

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Campion is one of the few successful female directors who can be labelled an auteur, and also one of the few whose work could be called feminist; her films are typically concerned with women in situations of oppression or restriction. However, Campion's work has often been criticised by feminists who are disappointed by Campion's recurrent theme of an oppressed female protagonist finding solace in a domineering male lover.

Related Topics:
Auteur - Feminist

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