International women in film: Jane Campion, Ari Wegner, Dina Amer and Leah Purcell

In the 93 year history of the Oscars, only seven women have been nominated in the Best Director category and just two have won. Ahead of this year’s Academy Awards, Anu Anand talks to director Jane Campion and cinematographer Ari Wegner about their film The Power of the Dog. A Western set in 1920s Montana starring Benedict Cumberbatch, it has received 12 Oscar nominations – more than any other film this year and importantly, this includes history-making nominations for women in a very male-dominated film industry. Campion is now the first woman to have been nominated twice as Best Director – an otherwise all-male category – while Wegner is the only woman nominated as Best Cinematographer, only the second ever to be nominated.

Dina Amer is an award-winning Egyptian-American journalist. She tells us about her debut film, You Resemble Me, which explores the troubled childhood and search for identity of a young French woman of Moroccan heritage, Hasna Aït Boulahcen, who was initially thought to be Europe’s first female suicide bomber.

And Australian actor, playwright, novelist and director Leah Purcell on her film The Drover’s Wife: The Legend Of Molly Johnson. Set in the harsh Australian bush in 1893, Molly Johnson is desperate to keep her children safe at any cost and the film powerfully tackles themes of domestic violence and racism. The Drover’s Wife was originally a short story by the 19th century writer Henry Lawson. Leah explains why this story had such an impact on her and why it was important to represent strong First Nations women in film.

(Photo: Ari Wegner and Jane Campion. Credit: Netflix)