Campion heads up festival

Australian Abbie Cornish stars in Jane Campion's Bright Star. Photo / Supplied

Jane Campion's new feature Bright Star has been confirmed as the opening night film of the New Zealand Film Festival.

The film about the love affair of poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne was in competition at last month's Cannes Festival. It joins fellow contenders Broken Embraces (directed by Pedro Almodovar) and Looking for Eric (Ken Loach) in the 120-plus films in the Auckland programme, which is hitting the streets about now.

The opening night is at the Civic on Thursday, July 9 and there is a possibility the Australian-based Campion may attend at least the Wellington festival screening the following week.