The Woman Who Should Have Made Oscar History
Posted in Uncategorized on March 13th, 2010 by Taline – Be the first to comment
Holly Hunter and Anna Paquin were both Oscarized for their performance in Jane Campion's "The Piano". (Miramax)
Third time’s a charm. In 1975, Lina Wertmüller was the first woman to ever be nominated for an Oscar in the Best Director category for her film Pasqualino Settebellezze. Jane Campion was the second female to ever be nominated in 1994 for her acclaimed film The Piano. In 2010, a woman finally won. Kathryn Bigelow won both Best Picture and became the first female to be recognized by the Academy as Best Director. But I still think Jane Campion should have won over 16 years ago.
Jane Campion didn’t leave empty-handed however. She took home the Oscar for Best Screenplay, while her two leading actresses, Holly Hunter and Anna Paquin, were named Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress respectively. But I still think Campion should have won Best Director. The fact that female directors are recognized less than their male counterparts was surprising in the Nineties.
Jane Campion's film Bright Star was presented at the Cannes Film Festival in 2009. (Pathé)
The Piano won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, but in 2007 when 35 directors were asked to participate in the ”Chacun son cinéma” segment and make a three-minute film celebrating the Seventh Art marking the Festival’s 60th anniversary, only one was a woman. It was, of course, Jane Campion. The New Zealander is the only woman filmmaker to have won Cannes’ top prize, for The Piano in 1993. Maybe this year there will be a second?
I’ve given up on becoming the female Martin Scorsese/Woody Allen/John Hughes, but I hope to see the number of female filmmakers multiply and their presence at film festivals and on nomination lists grow. In fact, a whole new generation is about to emerge, inspired and encouraged by the likes of Jane Campion and Kathryn Bigelow.
