A chronological overview of one of modern cinema’s most celebrated directors, featuring interviews with Jane Campion herself


Jane Campion on Jane Campion offers a unique perspective on the creative process of one of cinema’s 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 studies at the Australian Film Television and Radio School, then moving through the Academy Award–winning The Piano, The Portrait of a Lady, Holy Smoke, In the Cut, Bright Star, the TV series Top of the Lake, and ending with her most recent film, the Academy Award–nominated The Power of the Dog.


Organized chronologically, film-by-film, the interviews are illustrated with film stills and photographs taken on set, as well as with 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 filmography of the filmmaker complete this volume, which contains more than 300 color and black-and-white illustrations.