Director Jane Campion to preside over Jury of 67th Festival de Cannes

Shaw remembered for his pioneering work in cinema

Cannes Film Festival 2013

PARIS -- Jane Campion, New Zealand director, producer and scriptwriter, is to head the Jury of the 67th Festival de Cannes in 2014, the organisers announced Tuesday.

The first, still the only female director to have won the Palme d'Or, for The Piano in 1993, Campion will succeed the famous American director Steven Spielberg as president of the Jury of the next Festival de Cannes which will take place from May 14 to 25.

She said she was truly honored to play the leading role in the Jury of the 2014-event, which she "can't wait".

"It is this world wide inclusiveness and passion for film at the heart of the festival which makes the importance of the Cannes Film Festival indisputable," said Camion.

"It is a mythical and exciting festival where amazing things can happen, actors are discovered, films are financed careers are made, I know this because that is what happened to me," the New Zealand director added.

On his part, Gilles Jacob, president of the Festival de Cannes, commented in a statement, "...she brought a whole new style with her. That led to Sweetie, The Piano and more recently Bright Star - that marvellous film, shot through, as ever, with poetry."

In the wake of her acclaimed short films, which culminated in a Palme d'Or, Camion captivated international critics with Sweetie (1989), her first feature film, selected In Competition at the Festival de Cannes.

After An Angel at My Table (1990), inspired by the works of Janet Frame, in which the theme of an extraordinary woman engaged in the painful quest to assert her identity had already been sketched out, she returned to competition in Cannes in 1993 with The Piano, which won the Palme d'Or as well as Best Actress prize for Holly Hunter.