The Whale Rider (2002)
Director: Niki Caro Run Time: 101 min. Rating: PG-13 Release Year: 2002
Starring: Keisha Castle-Hughes, Rawiri Paratene, Vicky Haughton
About the film:
Winner of Sundance and Toronto Film Festival audience awards. Only eleven years old and with no previous acting experience, Keisha Castle-Hughes was nominated for Best Actress at the Academy Awards.
“Fresh, observant, tough and genuinely moving.”
– Roger Ebert, RogerEbert
Adapted from the novel by author Witi Ihimaera, a young Maori girl finds the courage to challenge the traditions of her patriarchal tribe.
About the filmmaker:
Recognized for her deft understanding of cultural representation, New Zealand writer-director Niki Caro was selected to helm Disney’s new live-action Mulan, making her one of just a handful of female filmmakers ever hired to direct a film with a budget of more than $100 million. A critically acclaimed filmmaker, her short film Sure to Rise (1994) and her debut feature Memory & Desire (1998) were nominated for awards at Cannes, and North Country (2005) earned two Academy Award nominations.