Jane Campion wins best director Oscar for The Power of the Dog

Jane Campion has won the Oscar for best director at the 94th Academy Awards, currently under way at the Dolby theatre in Los Angeles. Campion becomes the third woman to win the award, after Chloé Zhao in 2021 and Kathryn Bigelow in 2010.

Campion won the award for the western The Power of the Dog, which stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Jesse Plemons, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Kirsten Dunst; it is adapted from the 1967 novel by Thomas Savage about two brothers whose relationship deteriorates when one of them gets married.

Taking to the stage amid a standing ovation, Campion paid tribute to her fellow nominees, her cast and crew and the “whole awesome team” at Netflix. She also thanked her daughter and partner, and the author Thomas Savage, who wrote the 1967 novel on which her film is based.

“He wrote about cruelty,” said Campion, “wanting the opposite – kindness.”

Campion has already won a string of prizes for the film, including best director at the Baftas, Golden Globes and Directors Guild of America awards, and the Silver Lion prize for best director at the Venice film festival. This is her second Oscar win, having taken the best original screenplay award in 1994 for The Piano; she was nominated for best director for the same film but lost to Steven Spielberg for Schindler’s List.

Spielberg’s nomination this year made him the first director nominated over six decades.