Jane Campion on Jane Campion

Singled out from the start of her career for her short film Peel - An Exercise in Discipline (1982, Short Film Palme d'Or at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival), Jane Campion (born in 1954 in New Zealand) makes her presence felt in her work and tirelessly asserts herself as a woman, while refusing to be confined to a 'woman's film' ghetto. She gained iconic status with the Palme d'Or won in 1993 for The Piano, the first female director to have obtained this supreme award. More recently, she received the Silver Lion for Best Director for her latest film, The Power of the Dog (2021).

In her works, Campion explores female desire and, more generally, human relationships. From Kelly in Two friends (1986) and Ada in The Piano (1993) to Robin in the TV series Top of the Lake (2013 and 2017), the protagonist of each of her films is struggling for psychological and sensual autonomy and is in search of her individuality. Her latest film, The Power of the Dog, explores the masculinity of her hero.

Jane Campion on Jane Campion offers a unique perspective on the creative process of one of the greatest contemporary film directors, through a series of interviews from the early days of Campion's career to her most recent projects, conducted by Michel Ciment. Each chapter contains the study of a film, starting with the short films that Campion made during her film studies at the Australian Film Television and Radio School and ending with her last film, The Power of the Dog. A biographical study and a general essay place her work in context.

Organized chronologically, film by film, the interviews are illustrated by film stills and photographs taken on set, as well as by annotated scripts, storyboards and personal documents lent by Campion. The book also reproduces three short stories and a text about the poet John Keats written by the director, along with actress Holly Hunter's 'Scattered Memories' of their collaboration on The Piano and Top of the Lake. A detailed bibliography and a filmography of the filmmaker complete this reference work, which contains more than 300 colour and black-and-white illustrations.