Jane Campion will be honored with Next Generation Indie Film’s 2023 Luminary Award. The director will accept the award at the third annual gala, which will take place on Oct. 29 at the Loews Hollywood Hotel in Los Angeles.
Next Generation Indie Film Awards is a non-profit organization for independent authors and publishers. It bestows the Luminary Award on a “transformative figure in the industry, an artist whose work and journey are a North Star to the filmmaking community, especially at a time when art and inspiration are much-needed.” Rian Jonhson was the inaugural recipient of the Luminary Award in 2022.
Campion’s most recent film, 2021’s “The Power of the Dog,” a searing Western drama about a hardened rancher (Benedict Cumberbatch) who torments his brother’s wife (Kirsten Dunst) and her son (Kodi Smit-McPhee), was regarded as one of the best of the year and received 12 Oscar nominations. Campion won the Academy Award for best director, one of three women to ever take home the trophy in 95 years.
On the night of the 2022 Oscars, Campion spoke about her desire to see better recognition for women directors. “I’m very proud to have won tonight — for my film and for my cast,” she said. “But also just to be another woman who’s going to be followed by a fourth, a fifth, a sixth, a seventh, and an eighth. I’m very excited by the fact that this is moving fast now. We need it. Equality matters.”
Campion broke ground as the first female director to win the Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival for “The Piano” in 1993. The period film, starring Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel, Sam Neill and Anna Paquin, won three Oscars including best actress, supporting actress and screenplay.
Her first short film, 1982’s “Peel” was lauded with the best short film Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1986. She directed her first feature film “Sweetie” in 1989, followed by “An Angel at My Table” in 1990. Campion’s other filmography includes 1996’s “The Portrait of a Lady,” 1999’s “Holy Smoke,” 2003’s “In the Cut” and 2009’s “Bright Star.” On the small screen, she co-wrote, directed and executive produced the miniseries “Top of the Lake,” starring Elisabeth Moss.
She recently completed a 12-month directorship of a pop-up free film school in New Zealand, A Wave in the Ocean, funded by Netflix.