By Jackie Shannon

That’s right, Jane Campion is officially a Dame. The New Zealand-born, Sydney-based filmmaker accepted the honour – handed out for her services to film – in a ceremony held in Wellington, New Zealand on October 19. “It does feel a little like a summing up of what I’ve done,” Campion said afterwards. “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.”

Though born and raised in New Zealand, Australia can at least partially claim writer/director, Jane Campion, as our own. After a series of impressive short films (including A Girl’s Own Story and After Hours) and an excellent television film (1987’s Two Friends, which ingeniously charts the friendship between two teenage girls by employing a backwards narrative), Campion’s 1989 debut feature film, Sweetie, was made in Australia, and that was the critically lauded film that really launched her extraordinary career.

Jane Campion with Anna Paquin and Sam Neill on the set of The Piano
Jane Campion with Anna Paquin and Sam Neill on the set of The Piano

After receiving more acclaim for her 1990 New Zealand TV series, An Angel At My Table (which screened theatrically internationally), Campion went arthouse supernova with 1994’s masterpiece, The Piano, becoming only the second woman ever to be nominated for the Best Director Oscar. More fascinating films followed (The Portrait Of A Lady, the Aussie-shot Holy Smoke, In The Cut, Bright Star) before Campion made her mark on TV with the mesmerising series, Top Of The Lake.

Dame Jane Campion is currently working on the moody crime drama’s second season, titled Top Of The Lake: China Girl, which was shot in Sydney, and sees original star, Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men), facing off against Nicole Kidman when a dead body is found washed up on Bondi Beach. “I’m very excited about it,” the director said after the ceremony. “We’re halfway through editing, and I think it gets into some really deep, emotional, juicy material as well as working through the crime.”

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