Jane Campion

Jane Campion's films are built around women who are many-layered, interesting and often deeply flawed. She was born in New Zealand and her first feature was Sweetie. In The Piano, Holly Hunter plays a mute woman sent out to the New Zealand of the 1850s for an arranged marriage; at Cannes the Palme d'Or came to the film, which made Campion the first woman to take it. Three of its eight Oscar nominations turned into awards, best actress, best supporting actress and the screenplay. An Angel at My Table was adapted from the autobiographical books of the New Zealand writer Janet Frame. The Power of the Dog brought her the directing Oscar.