The most complete retrospective in Portugal of the work of New Zealand director Jane Campion will be shown from April at Batalha – Centro de Cinema, in Porto, it was announced today.
The retrospective, “the most complete to date in Portugal”, will include all the feature films and a selection of short films, which illustrate “the filmmaker’s pioneering career and her continuous exploration of the human psyche”, reads the press release.
The cycle, entitled “Without Compromise”, kicks off on April 5 with “Sweetie” (1989), the first feature-length fiction film, “an eccentric black comedy centered on the dysfunctional relationship between two sisters” and which was in competition at the Cannes Film Festival in France.
Also in April, Batalha will screen “An Angel at My Table” (1990), an autobiographical portrait of New Zealand writer Janet Frame, the telefilm “Two Friends” (1986) and several short films made in the early 1980s.
The retrospective will run until June 15 and includes “The Piano” (1993), the film that gave him international recognition and with which he won several awards, including the Palme d’Or at Cannes, an Oscar for screenwriting and a nomination for these awards for directing.
“Portrait of a Lady” (1996), based on a novel by Henry James, and “The Power of the Dog” (2021), for which he won the Oscar for Best Director, are also part of the cycle.
“Although not very extensive, her filmography – marked by strong, assertive female protagonists and impressive formal diversity – has won critical acclaim over the decades,” said Batalha – Centro de Cinema.
Jane Campion, who turns 70 on April 30th, studied Anthropology, Painting and Cinema and made her first films while still at school, making her feature debut with “Sweetie”.
“The Power of the Dog”, based on a 1967 novel by Thomas Savage about toxic masculinity and homosexuality in a rural setting, was Jane Campion’s return to filmmaking after having made a television series, “Margins of Paradise” (2013-2017).
At the time, in an interview with the British newspaper The Guardian, Jane Campion admitted that she had almost given up filmmaking before “The Power of Dogs”, disillusioned with the Hollywood filmmaking machine.
