Oscar-winner Jane Campion to lead Cannes Film Festival jury

PanARMENIAN.Net - Oscar-winner Jane Campion will lead the jury at the 67th Cannes Film Festival. The New Zealand director is the first, and still only, woman to have won Cannes' top prize, the Palme d'Or. She won in 1993 for The Piano, sharing the prize ex aequo with Kaige Chen's Farewell My Concubine, The Hollywood Reporter said.

"Since I first went to Cannes with my short films in 1986," said Campion in a statement, "I have had the opportunity to see the festival from many sides and my admiration for this Queen of film festivals has only grown larger. At the Cannes Film Festival they manage to combine and celebrate the glamor of the industry, the stars, the parties, the beaches, the business, while rigorously maintaining the festival's seriousness about the Art and excellence of new world cinema."

In addition to the Palme d'Or, The Piano went on to win three Oscars, including a best original screenplay nod for Campion, a best actress Oscar for star Holly Hunter and a best supporting win for the then 11-year-old Anna Paquin. More recently, Campion has ventured into the small screen, directing the TV mystery mini-series Top of the Lake featuring Elisabeth Moss and Hunter, which aired on Sundance Channel in the U.S..

Campion takes over in Cannes from last year's jury head Steven Spielberg. She also collected the Short Film Palme d’Or in 1986 for Peel. She headed the Short Film Jury and the Cinefondation at last year's festival.