Oscar-winning New Zealand director Jane Campion will head the jury for the 67th Cannes film festival in May.
Campion, who won an Oscar for best screenplay for her 1993 film “The Piano” and is the only woman ever to win the top Cannes prize, the Palme d’or, for that same film, succeeds US director Steven Spielberg, who headed the jury last year.
“I am truly honored to join with the Cannes Film Festival as president of the in-competition features for 2014,” Campion said in a statement issued by the festival. “In fact I can’t wait.”
Campion, who was born in Wellington and originally studied to be an anthropologist, started making short films in the 1980s and won the top Cannes prize for a short feature in 1986. Her first feature film was “Sweetie” (1989) followed by “An Angel at My Table” (1990) and “The Piano”.