WHALE RIDER
SYNOPSIS
In a small New Zealand coastal village, Maori claim descent from Paikea, the Whale Rider. In every generation for over 1000 years, a male heir born to the Chief succeeds to the title. The time is now. The Chief's eldest son, Porourangi, fathers twins - a boy and a girl. But the boy and his mother die in childbirth. The surviving girl is named Pai... A contemporary story of love and rejection as a young girl fights to fulfil her destiny.
| DIRECTOR | Niki Caro |
| YEAR | 2002 |
| STATUS | completed |
| FESTIVALS AWARDS | 2002 Toronto Intl Film Festival: AGF People?s Choice Award - 2003 Sundance Film Festival: World Cinema Audience Award - 2003 Rotterdam Intl Film Festival: Canal + Audience Award - 2003 San Francisco Intl Film Festival: Virginmega Audience Award |
| CAST | Keisha Castle-Hughes Rawiri Paratene Vicky Haughton Cliff Curtis |
| CO PRODUCTION WITH | South Pacific Pictures Apollomedia Pandora Film in Association with The New Zealand Film Production Fund The New Zealand Film Commission NZ On Air |
| SUPPORTED BY | Filmstiftung NRW |
| WORLD SALES | The Works, London |
| GERMAN DISTRIBUTOR | Pandora Film Verleih |
| LENGTH | 101 min |
| FORMAT | colour cinemascope Dolby SRD |
| SHOOTING LOCATION | New Zealand Whangara |
| ORIGINAL LANGUAGE | English |
| PRODUCERS | Tim Sanders John Barnett Frank Hubner (Producers) Witi Ihimaera (Associate Producer) Reinhard Brundig (Co-Producer) Bill Gavin Linda Goldstein Knowlton (Executive Producers) |
| WRITERS | Niki Caro based on the book "The Whale Rider" by Witi Ihimaera |
| CASTING | Diana Rowan |
| DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY | Leon Narbey |
| PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT | Janet McIver (Production Manager) Liz Tan (First Assistant Director) |
| EDITING | David Coulson |
| MUSIC | Lisa Gerrard |
| SOUND | David Madigan (Sound Recordist) |
| ART DIRECTION | Grant Major (Production Designer) Grace Mok (Art Director) |
| COSTUMES | Kirsty Cameron |
| MAKE UP HAIR | Denise Kum (Makeup/Hair Supervisor) |
| SOUNDTRACK AVAILABLE | yes |
| DVD VIDEO AVAILABLE | yes |
| LINKS | www.whaleriderthemovie.com; www.spp.co.nz; www.whalerider.de |
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