大象传媒

Oscar-winning writer and director of The Piano, Jane Campion, talks to Matthew Sweet about her new film Bright Star, which recounts the last years of poet John Keats.

Born in New Zealand and trained in Australia, Campion was the first woman to win the Palme D'Or at Cannes, which she received for The Piano. The film also won an Oscar for Best Screenplay and gained her a nomination for Best Director - only the second time a woman has been so honoured. Campion's pictures such as In the Cut, An Angel at my Table, the Piano and Holy Smoke involve complex female leads, and have features actresses such as Holly Hunter, Kate Winslet, Meg Ryan and Kerry Fox.

Bright Star is a drama based on the last three years in the life of Keats. It stars Ben Whishaw as Keats and Abbie Cornish as his muse Fanny Brawne. Campion also wrote the screenplay, inspired by Andrew Motion's biograpny of the great poet. The film's title is a reference to a sonnet by Keats, titled Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art, which he wrote while he was with Brawne.

Also, author Michael Goldfarb recalls his personal experience of the 1989 revolutions as part of a series of letters, and reflects on their significance 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall.