Campion to receive special Cannes award

It's been announced that Oscar-winning director, Jane Campion, will be honoured with a special award at this year's Cannes film festival in May.

The director of 'The Piano' and 'In The Cut' will be awarded the 'Carrosse d'Or' by the French Film Directors' Guild (Société de Réalisateurs de Films) in recognition of  "the innovative qualities, the courage and independent mindedness of her work."

The award will be presented to Campion on May 16th.

The New Zealand film maker who is currently based in Australia will be joining some legendary names in receiving the  prize.

Previous winners include Jacques Rozier, Clint Eastwood, Nanni Moretti, Ousmane Sembene, David Cronenberg, Alain Cavalier, Jim Jarmusch, Naomi Kawase, Agnès Varda, Jafar Panahi and Nuri Bilge Ceylan.

Campion's most recent project has been the co-creation of forthcoming TV series, 'Top of the Lake' which stars Elisabeth Moss, Peter Mullan and Holly Hunter.