Cannes recall for NZ 'Piano' director
28 Apr 2009
New Zealand director Jane Campion’s new film has been selected for official competition at Cannes, the world's most prestigious film festival, where her breakthrough work The Piano triumphed 16 years ago.
Academy award-winning Campion will unveil Bright Star, a period drama about the romance between English poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne that was cut short by Keats’ untimely death at the age of 25.
The movie will be released in New Zealand later this year.
Palme d’Or award
Bright Star will compete for the top Palme d'Or award, the prize which Campion shared in 1993 with Chen Kaige for Farewell My Concubine.
Jane Campion is the only woman to have won the Palme d'Or.
Bright Star also marks the reunion of Campion and star Kerry Fox who plays Brawne’s mother. Fox appeared in Campion’s An Angel at My Table.
Cannes 2009
Others competing for the coveted Palme d’Or prize include Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds), Ken Loach (Looking for Eric), and Lars von Trier (Antichrist), each of whom has previously won top honours at the festival on the French Riviera.
The 2009 Cannes film festival funs from 13 - 24 May.
The economic crisis is said to be having an effect on the 2009 event with a prediction that it will be ‘crunch Cannes’ due to reduced market activity, fewer buyers and slimmer hotel bookings.
Independent cinema
President Gilles Jacob said the 62nd edition of the Cannes festival would focus particularly on independent cinema to counter the myth that such movies were in decline.
He said that the 20 films in competition for the Palme d'Or as well as another 19 films in a secondary competition called ‘Un Certain Regard’ would demonstrate that creative, inventive and energetic filmmaking was surviving.
Background: Jane Campion
Jane Campion is one of New Zealand’s best known film directors. She won the Oscar for Best Screenplay for her 1993 film The Piano which also scooped Best Actress (Holly Hunter) and Best Supporting Actress (Anna Paquin).
More information:
New Zealand film-maker: Jane Campion
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