Award-winning writer-director Jane Campion is officially a Dame. The Sydney-based filmmaker accepted the honor in a ceremony held in Wellington, New Zealand — her hometown — earlier today, Newshub reports.
Campion is being recognized for her contributions to film. The renowned filmmaker’s credits include “Sweetie,” “An Angel at My Table,” “The Piano,” “Holy Smoke!” and “Bright Star.” Only four women have ever been nominated for Best Director at the Academy Awards: Campion is one of them. She landed a nod in 1994 for “The Piano,” the same film that led her to being named the only female filmmaker in Cannes Film Festival history to be awarded the Palme d’Or.
“It does feel a little like a summing up of what I’ve done,” Campion said of the honor. “I think for me it’s really special because, you know, I am a New Zealander. I’ve never changed my nationality: I love New Zealand.”
Campion also shared a new sense of responsibility she feels as a Dame. “I feel like I have to grow up a bit now; time to give back some service, that’s really what it brings to mind,” she explained.
Giving back will involve mentoring young filmmakers, particularly women. Campion shared, “When I first started there was a sense of, oh you know, ‘please shut up. You’re a woman; we’re sort of letting you be here, [as] we need a token one or two.’”
But in the last couple of years, Campion has noticed “a big groundswell of new women voices.” She speculated, “I think there’s a sense of emboldenment amongst women, you know, that it’s ok to speak up.”
Campion is a longtime champion of fellow female filmmakers. Back in 2014, for example, she criticized “inherent sexism in the industry.” Campion elaborated, “Time and time again [women] don’t get our share of representation. Excuse me gentlemen, but the guys seem to eat all the cake.”
As for the upcoming second season of Campion and Gerard Lee’s Emmy Award-winning murder mystery series “Top of the Lake,” Campion said, “We’re halfway through editing and I think it gets into some really deep, emotional, juicy material as well as working through the crime.”
Elisabeth Moss (“Mad Men”) will reprise her role as Detective Robin Griffin in Season 2. “Top of the Lake: China Girl” takes place four years after the events of the first season, which followed Sydney-based Robin as she returned to her hometown in New Zealand to investigate the disappearance of a local 12-year-old girl. Season 2 is set in Sydney and centers around an unidentified murder victim whose body turns up at Bondi Beach.
Nicole Kidman and “Game of Thrones” star Gwendoline Christie will also appear in “Top of the Lake: China Girl,” set to premiere on BBC Two in the U.K in 2017 and sometime later that year in the U.S. on SundanceTV. Episodes will be available to watch on Hulu the day after they premiere on SundanceTV.
Check out video footage of Campion becoming a Dame and an interview with the filmmaker over at Newshub.
