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Whale Rider
Film (Trailer and Excerpts) – 2002
Whale Rider follows Pai, a young Māori girl (Keisha Castle-Hughes) who challenges tradition and embraces the past, in order to find the strength to lead her people forward. Directed Niki Caro based her script on Witi Ihimaera's novel The Whale Rider. Coupling a specific sense of place and culture with a universal coming-of-age story, Whale Rider became one of the most successful New Zealand films released internationally. It won Audience Choice awards at the Sundance and Toronto Film Festivals, and Castle-Hughes become one of the youngest actors to be nominated for a leading role at the Academy Awards.
The genius of the movie is the way it sidesteps all of the obvious cliches of the underlying story and makes itself fresh, observant, tough and genuinely moving ... this is not a simplistic fable but the story of real people living in modern times.– Roger Ebert in a Chicago Star-Times review, 20 June 2003
Key Cast & Crew
See all 30 credits
Acknowledgements
Made with financing from the NZ Film Production Fund, the NZ Film Commission, Filmstiftung NRW (Germany) and NZ On Air
Categories
More Information
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Behind the Scenes of Whale Rider
The making of Whale Rider
Kaleidoscope - Witi Ihimaera
Documentary about Whale Rider author Witi Ihimaera
The Lost Whales
Documentary about southern right whales
Whare Taonga - Whāngārā
Documentary about the marae featured in the film
Niki Caro: from the cult of shoes to cold mornings in Minnesota
Interview with Whale Rider director Niki Caro
Intrepid Journeys - Tanzania, Kenya and Zanzibar (Keisha Castle-Hughes)
Keisha Castle-Hughes goes to East Africa
The Sea Child
Short film about a Māori girl and the sea
The Silent One
Another relationship between a child and a sea creature
Witi Ihimaera: Roimata Toroa
Author Witi Ihimaera returns home
in beTWEEN - Politics
Actor Rawiri Paratene talks about whales in this kids show
Kaitangata Twitch - First Episode
Another determined young female Māori protagonist
Heartland - East Coast
A popular documentary series visits the East Coast
Boy
Another tale of a Māori East Coast childhood
Opo
Actor Rawiri Paratene and a dolphin
Lost in Translation 7 - The East Coast Sheet (episode seven)
Mike King travels on the East Coast
Swagger - Series Four, Episode One
Swimming with whales off Tonga
Ngāti Porou East Coast 2001 - True Colours
A documentary on an East Coast community & their rugby team
The Vintner's Luck
Also starring Keisha Castle-Hughes and directed by Niki Caro
Aroha: A Story of the Māori People
Another Māori woman caught between modernity & tradition
Winners & Losers: Big Brother, Little Sister
Another adaptation of a Witi Ihimaera story
Te Pāmu Kūmara - First Episode
Another tale with a young female Māori protagonist
Jubilee
Cliff Curtis's first lead role in a feature film
Frontseat - Who Can Play Māori
Discussion on actors playing other races and iwi
Bad Note for a Heart
Niki Caro also made this Straitjacket Fits music video
E Tipu e Rea - Variations on a Theme
Short drama featuring Rawiri Paratene
The Orator - O Le Tulafale
Also shot by Leon Narbey
The Day Morris Left
A short film starring Rawiri Paratene
The Dark Horse
Also stars Cliff Curtis
12 Bar Rhythm 'n Shoes - Series Two, Episode One
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The Wall
Directed by Whale Rider’s casting director Diana Rowan
For Art's Sake - Waiora
Rawiri Paratene also stars in this play
The Insatiable Moon
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White Lies
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Joe and Koro - High Society
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Illustrious Energy
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Another NZ-German co-production
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Arriving Tuesday
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Whale watching in Kaikōura
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Ngā Tamatoa: 40 Years On
Rawiri Paratene presents this 2012 documentary
A Whale Out My Window
More whales
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Piece of My Heart
Keisha Castle-Hughes co-starred in this TV drama
Hautoa Mā! The Rise of Māori Cinema
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Whānau (2008)
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So This Happened - Bekah and Marama
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