New Zealand director Dame Jane Campion has taken home the Academy Award for Best Director for her film The Power of the Dog at the 94th Academy Awards.
Campion becomes only the third woman in the Oscars’ 94-year history to take home the prize.
“Power of the Dog” is a movie about revenge set in 1925 Montana and based on a 1967 novel by Thomas Savage.
The film was shot in New Zealand and stars Benedict Cumberbatch as a cruel, twisted ranch owner who sets out to torment his brother’s new wife, played by Kirsten Dunst.
Other Oscar winners for 2022 were Troy Kotsur for CODA, the first deaf man to win an Oscar.
Dune has led the way with six Oscars in total, in technical categories with CODA win the Best Picture Award.
But the start of the night for New Zealand was Jane Campion. The movie was Campion’s first since 2009 and was able to be set in New Zealand thanks to Netflix and the government.
The government put $8 million into this film, plus the Netflix investment led to around about $28 million being put directly into our economy.
Campion, aged 67, was nominated previously for her 1993 drama “The Piano.”
However, she lost the directing award that year to Steven Spielberg, who landed the trophy for “Schindler’s List,” but won the Oscar for best original screenplay.
