Oscar-winning New Zealand film-maker Jane Campion will head the jury at this year’s Cannes film festival.
The director of The Piano, which won three Oscars in 1993, succeeds Steven Spielberg as president of the jury for the 2014 edition of the festival, to be held in May.
Campion is the only female director to have won the highest award at the Cannes festival, the Palme d’Or, for The Piano in 1993 and also won an award for a short film in 1986.
She will become the seventh woman to hold the position. She is a Cannes regular, heading last year’s short-film jury.
Campion said she had a great passion for the world’s most prestigious film festival.
“Since I first went to Cannes with my short films in 1986 I have had the opportunity to see the festival from many sides and my admiration for this queen of film festivals has only grown larger,” she said.
“At the Cannes film festival they manage to combine and celebrate the glamour of the industry, the stars, the parties, the beaches, the business, while rigorously maintaining the festival’s seriousness about the art and excellence of new world cinema.”
Festival director Thierry Fremaux said organisers were proud to have Campion presiding over the jury.
“She is one of those directors who perfectly embody the idea that you can make films as an artist and yet still appeal to a worldwide public,” he said.
“We are confident that her exacting approach will be mirrored by her jury.”
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