New Zealand filmmaker will be presented with the honorary award on the opening night of Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes.

The French Film Directors Guild, which oversees the Cannes parallel section the Directors’ Fortnight, is to honour Jane Campion with its Carrosse d’Or (Golden Carriage) award during the festival.

“The “Carrosse d’Or” award is a tribute paid by the directors of the Film Directors’ Guild to one of their own, chosen from the international filmmaking community for the innovative qualities, the courage and independent mindedness of his or her work,” the guild, or Société de Réalisateurs de Films (SFR) as it is called in France, said in a statement.

Past recipients of the prize, created in 2002, include Clint Eastwood, Nanni Moretti, Sembene Ousmane, David Cronenberg, Alain Cavalier, Jim Jarmusch, Naomi Kawase, Agnès Varda, Jafar Panahi and Nuri Bilge Ceylan.

Campion, who will be in Cannes as president of the Cinéfondation and Short Film Jury, will participate in a “conversation with the filmmaker” event on the afternoon of May 16 and will then be presented with the award at the opening night of Directors’ Fortnight.

Based in Australia, Campion is the second of four women ever nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director and is also the first female filmmaker in history to receive the Palme d’Or for directing the acclaimed 1993 film The Piano.

Most recently, she has co-created and directed forthcoming TV miniseries Top of the Lake.

Campion’s other notable directing credits include An Angel at My Table, The Portrait of a Lady, Holy Smoke, In the Cut and Bright Star.