The 94th Academy Awards ceremony was held in the United States on March 27th.
From the Japanese film world, "Drive My Car," based on a short story by Haruki Murakami and directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi and starring Hidetoshi Nishijima and Toko Miura, won the Best International Feature Film award. This was the first time in 13 years that a Japanese film has won an award since "Departures," and it was much talked about.
Also, the incident in which Will Smith, who won the Best Actor award for the first time, slapped the host, Chris Rock, became big news around the world.
But this year's Academy Awards also brought big news for New Zealand.
The Director of the Year goes to a New Zealander
The winner of the 94th Academy Award for Best Director was Jane Campion, director of the film "The Power of the Dog" starring Benedict Camperbatch. Campion is originally from Wellington, the capital of New Zealand!
Born on April 30, 1954, the second daughter of an actor and screenwriter mother and a teacher and stage and opera director father, Campion was influenced by her parents and grew up in the New Zealand theater industry along with her siblings.
However, when he was young, he refused to pursue a career in theater and instead majored in anthropology at Victoria University of Wellington. After graduating, he enrolled in Chelsea College of Arts in London, England, and traveled around Europe. He then studied visual arts painting at the University of the Arts in Sydney. He later said that his studies at art college were the foundation of his career, and cited Mexican painter Frida Kahlo and German sculptor Joseph Beuys as artists who influenced him.
Not content with painting, he then moved into the world of film, producing a number of short films while studying at the Australian Film Television and Radio School.
First person in history to be nominated twice
In 1982, while studying in Australia, he made a short film called "Peel," which won the Palme d'Or at the 39th Cannes Film Festival for short films. He received high praise from the beginning.
In 1993, she directed and wrote her third feature film, "The Piano," which won the Palme d'Or at the 46th Cannes Film Festival, becoming the first female director to do so. She was also nominated for eight awards at the 66th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Director. Although she did not win the Best Director award, she did win Best Original Screenplay.
She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director for the second time and won the award. She is the first female director to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director twice and the third to win the award.
Director Jane Campion's Best Original Screenplay Oscar has gained a new friend.
Jane Campion with her Best Director Oscar for her film 'The Power of the Dog.' #Oscars Photography by: Luis Alberto Rodriguez pic.twitter.com/K1WowdI7Po — The Academy (@TheAcademy) March 29, 2022
Nominated for 12 awards
Campion's film, The Power of the Dog, premiered at the 78th Venice International Film Festival last year, where it won the Silver Lion (Leone d'Argento).
At this year's Academy Awards, it was nominated for 12 awards, but unfortunately it only won one, Best Director. It is said to be rare for a film to receive so many nominations and only win one award.
The film was shot mainly in the countryside of the Otago region, the southernmost part of New Zealand's South Island. New Zealand is also a popular location for Hollywood movies. The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, both directed by New Zealander Peter Jackson, and The Last Samurai, which was a hot topic and starred Ken Watanabe, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Yukie Nakama, were also shot in New Zealand.
The locations of Power of the Dog are considered to have contributed to the film as much as the wonderful actors, such as Benedict Campervaggi, Kirsten Dunst, and Jesse Plemons. There are no tours or anything like that planned yet, but location information is available on a number of websites.
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Central Otago, the region where the photo was taken, is famous for its Pinot Noir wines. I would love to visit the wineries there someday.
Click here for Central Otago wines
