Jane Campion won the Academy Award for best director at the 2022 Oscars, becoming just the third woman to win the accolade.
Campion, 67, snagged the trophy for her film "The Power of the Dog," which is based on Thomas Savage's 1967 novel of the same name, and stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee.
Her acceptance speech began with a shout-out to her fellow "extraordinarily talented" nominees before she spoke about the art of filmmaking.
"I love directing because it's a deep dive into story, yet the task of manifesting a world can be overwhelming. The sweet thing is, I'm not alone," Campion said, praising her cast, crew and everyone involved with helping create "The Power of the Dog."
Campion also said this win would be "impossible" without Savage, whom she never met, saying, "He wrote about cruelty, wanting the opposite: kindness."
The New Zealand-born filmmaker beat out fellow nominees Paul Thomas Anderson ("Licorice Pizza"), Kenneth Branagh ("Belfast"), Ryusuke Hamaguchi ("Drive My Car") and Steven Spielberg ("West Side Story").
Campion joins the likes of Kathryn Bigelow, who won in 2010 for "The Hurt Locker," and Chloé Zhao, who won in 2021 for "Nomadland," as the only women to win best director in the history of the Oscars.
The only other women to earn an Academy Award nomination for best director include Lina Wertmüller for "Seven Beauties" in 1977, Sofia Coppola for "Lost in Translation" in 2004, Greta Gerwig for "Lady Bird'' in 2018 and Emerald Fennell for "Promising Young Woman" in 2021.
At the time of her nomination, Campion also became the first woman to be nominated twice in the best director category as she previously scored a nod for her 1994 film, "The Piano."
In the lead-up to the 94th Academy Awards, Campion won the equivalent of the best director Oscar at the BAFTAs, the Critics' Choice Awards, the Golden Globes and the Directors Guild of America Awards.
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