Jane Campion named president of Cannes jury - gulfnews.com

Australian filmmaker is the only female director to have won the Palme d’Or

• Los Angeles Times

• Image Credit: AFP


• (FILES) - A picture taken on May 22, 2013 shows New Zealand director and Jury President Jane Campion posing during a photocall for the Cinefondation and Short Films Jury at the 66th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes. New Zealand filmmaker Jane Campion, the only woman to win the coveted Palme d'Or, will head the jury at this year's Cannes Film Festival, the organisers announced on January 7, 2014. AFP PHOTO / ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT

Australian filmmaker and former Palme d’Or winner Jane Campion has been named president of the 2014 Cannes Film Festival competition jury.

Campion will lead a group that has the task of handing out the Palme and other top prizes to the approximately 20 competition films.

Campion has a deep history with Cannes. She is the only female director to have won the Palme, taking the honour for The Piano in 1993. She appeared at the festival with her period drama Bright Star in 2009 and godfathered the Australian coming-of-age drama Sleeping Beauty two years ago.

Festival director Thierry Fremaux said in a statement that Campion “is one of those directors who perfectly embody the idea that you can make films as an artist and yet still appeal to a worldwide public. “

Her most recent work was Top of the Lake, a mystery-drama TV miniseries that played the Sundance Film Festival and other movie confabs last year and became a critical darling.

Campion takes over a role that had been held by American filmmakers in three of the last four years, with Tim Burton, Robert De Niro and Steven Spielberg occupying the spot in 2010, 2011 and 2013, respectively. Last year Spielberg presided over a jury that handed the Palme d’Or to the French drama Blue Is the Warmest Colour, which proceeded to garner attention for its explicit sex scenes as well as infighting among its filmmaker and cast members.

The festival, considered the most prestigious in the world, is ground zero for the world’s most influential cinema. The Palme winners in 2011 and 2012, The Tree of Life and Amour, went on to become art house hits and forces on the awards circuit.

The Cannes International Film Festival is scheduled to be held May 14-24.