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Tribute: Jane Campion
from MVFF44 Program
by MVFF
JANE CAMPION | MIND THE GAP AWARD Throughout her career, Jane Campion has been a groundbreaker. Not just because in 1993 she was the first director who’s a woman to win the prestigious Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival for The Piano. And not just because, also for The Piano, she was the second female director to receive a Best Director Academy Award® nomination (we are now up to 7 nominations and two wins, after 93 years), winning for Best Original Screenplay that same year. She’s also a groundbreaker because she is truly an artist, whose career has been uncompromisingly on her own terms. From the estimable talent that revealed itself in her early shorts (Peel, Passionless Moments, A Girl’s Own Story), Campion has distinguished herself with singular commitment to her own distinct sensibility. Her work embraces people who may be a little oddball, outsider, eccentric (An Angel At My Table, Sweetie, The Piano), whose lives may reveal some kind of subversiveness (In the Cut) or spiritual quandary (Holy Smoke!). She upped the ante in her foray into episodic storytelling (Top of the Lake), and now returns with a new feature, The Power of the Dog, retaining a beautiful signature sense of cinema craft, and proving again she’s among most original and compelling filmmakers today. It’s no wonder she is held in such esteem; no wonder she continues to be a role model for so many. She’s one of the greats. —Zoë Elton
THE POWER OF THE DOG UK/Australia/US/Canada/New Zealand 2021, 125 min Director Jane Campion Set on a ranch in mid-1920s Montana, Campion’s first Western is a rich story of longing, love and betrayal. Benedict Cumberbatch delivers a powerful performance as well-heeled, consummate bully Phil, whose world is thrown out of kilter when brother George (Jesse Plemons) brings a wife (Kirsten Dunst) home to the family ranch. —Zoë Elton
In Person: JANE CAMPION, TANYA SEGHATCHIAN
SPONSORED BY NANCY P. and RICHARD K. ROBBINS FAMILY FOUNDATION Friday, October 8, 6:00pm, Rafael $40 CFI Member / $45 General
