Jane Campion's courage to be honoured at Cannes

Jane Campion. Photo/Getty Images

New-Zealand born director Jane Campion will be honoured during this year's Cannes Film Festival.

Campion has been chosen as the recipient of the Carrosse d'Or (Golden Coach) Award given by the French film directors guild, the SRF, according to industry website Deadline.com.

The tribute goes to a director from the international filmmaking community for their innovative qualities, courage and independent mindedness.

Previous recipients include Jacques Rozier, Clint Eastwood, Nanni Moretti, Ousmane Sembene, David Cronenberg, Alain Cavalier, Jim Jarmusch, Naomi Kawase, Agnes Varda, Jafar Panahi and Nuri Bilge Ceylan in 2012.

Campion's most recent project is the dark TV drama Top of the Lake, which was filmed in Queenstown.

She is the only woman to win the Cannes festival's top prize, the Palme d'Or, for The Piano in 1993. The film also earned Campion the Oscar for best original screenplay. Stars of the film Holly Hunter and Anna Paquin also picked up Oscars for their performances.

Some of Campion's other films include The Portrait of a Lady, starring Nicole Kidman, and Holy Smoke (Kate Winslet, Harvey Keitel).

- AAP