Jane Campion, Incandescent Portraits

Across eight feature films, New Zealand filmmaker Jane Campion has developed a strong, remarkably stylish signature, showcased through a series of powerfully intense female portraits. Much like the red hair of writer Janet Frame, whose flamboyance she immortalized in her second film, Campion's heroines are incandescent and untamed. Yet, this aspect does not define her body of work, which constantly delves deeper into her apprehension of a complex and ambiguous humanity, caught between its impulses and its constraints, as evidenced be the recent and masterful The Power of the Dog. This retrospective is also an occasion to rediscover the pioneer’s debut film, Sweetie, thanks to a brand-new restoration.