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Whale Rider
Sign in to save2002 drama film directed by Niki Caro
OverviewAI-generated
Whale Rider is a 2002 German-New Zealand drama and family film directed and written by Niki Caro, based on the novel by Witi Ihimaera. Starring Keisha Castle-Hughes, Rawiri Paratene, Cliff Curtis, and Rachel House, it was filmed in New Zealand with a score by Lisa Gerrard and production design by Grant Major. Produced by Frank Hübner, the film is in English and Māori and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. It carried a budget of $8,000,000 against revenue of $41,400,000, and runs 101 minutes. It was nominated for 1 Oscar, with 33 wins and 35 nominations total, and is rated PG-13.
Synthesized by Vinony from 42 facts across 4 sources: Wikidata, TMDb, OMDb, IMDb. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Film · TMDB
7.1A contemporary story of love, rejection, and triumph as a young Māori girl fights to fulfill a destiny her grandfather refuses to recognize.
Cast
- Keisha Castle-Hughes as Paikea Apirana
- Rawiri Paratene as Koro
- Vicky Haughton as Nanny Flowers
- Cliff Curtis as Porourangi
- Grant Roa as Uncle Rawiri
- Mana Taumaunu as Hemi
Themes
- diving
- becoming an adult
- grandparent grandchild relationship
- tradition
- loss of loved one
- ocean
- whale
- empowerment
- new zealand
- maori tradition
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Ratings
IMDb
7.5/10
44,401 votes
Rotten Tomatoes
91%
Metacritic
80/100
- Year
- 2002
- Runtime
- 101 min
- Genres
- Drama, Family
- Rated
- PG-13
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 Oscar. 33 wins & 35 nominations total
via OMDb · IMDb
Key facts
- Directed by
- Niki Caro
- Screenplay by
- Niki Caro
- Based on
- The Whale Rider , by Witi Ihimaera
- Produced by
- Tim Sanders , John Barnett , Frank Hübner
- Starring
- Keisha Castle-Hughes Rawiri Paratene Vicky Haughton Cliff Curtis
- Narrated by
- Keisha Castle-Hughes
- Cinematography
- Leon Narbey
- Edited by
- David Coulson
- Music by
- Lisa Gerrard
- Production companies
- South Pacific Pictures , ApolloMedia, Pandora Film , New Zealand Film Production Fund, New Zealand Film Commission , NZ On Air , Filmstiftung Nordrhein-Westfalen
- Distributed by
- Buena Vista International (Australia and New Zealand) , Pandora Film (Germany)
- Release dates
- 11 September 2002 ( 2002-09-11 ) ( Toronto ) 30 January 2003 ( 2003-01-30 ) (New Zealand) 25 July 2003 ( 2003-07-25 ) (Germany)
- Running time
- 101 minutes
- Countries
- New Zealand, Germany
- Languages
- English, Māori
- Budget
- NZ$ $9.2 million , (approx. US$3.5 million)
- Box office
- $41.4 million
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- film
- Genre
- family film
- Country of origin
- New Zealand
- Original language
- Māori
- Director
- Niki Caro
- Screenwriter
- Niki Caro
- Composer
- Lisa Gerrard
- Producer
- Frank Hübner
- Narrative location
- New Zealand
- Filming location
- New Zealand
- Duration
- 97
- FilmAffinity ID
- 991829
- Official website
- southpacificpictures.com/productions/details/337
Show 8 more facts
- title
- Whale Rider
- narrator
- Keisha Castle-Hughes
- production designer
- Grant Major
- assessment
- Bechdel test
- review score
- 91%
- after a work by
- Witi Ihimaera
- publication date
- 2003-08-14
Sources (15)
via Wikidata · CC0
~13 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Whale Rider is a 2002 New Zealand drama film written and directed by Niki Caro, based on the 1987 novel by Witi Ihimaera. The film stars Keisha Castle-Hughes as Kahu Paikea Apirana, a twelve-year-old Māori girl whose ambition is to become the chief of the tribe. Her grandfather believes that this is a role reserved for males only. A coproduction between New Zealand and Germany, the film was shot on location in Whangara, the setting of the novel.
Whale Rider had its world premiere on 9 September 2002 at the Toronto International Film Festival. It received critical acclaim upon its release and was a commercial success, earning $41.4 million on a $3.5 million budget. At the 76th Academy Awards, Keisha Castle-Hughes became the youngest nominee for the Academy Award for Best Actress, at age 13. In 2005, the film was named on the BFI list of the "50 Films You Should See By the Age of 14".
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Whale Rider” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.