This article is about the film. For the novel, see The Whale Rider.
Whale Rider
Theatrical release poster
Directed by
Niki Caro
Screenplay by
Niki Caro
Based on
The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera
Produced by
John Barnett Frank Hübner Tim Sanders
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
Pandora Film (Germany) Newmarket Films (USA)
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 [1]
Countries
New Zealand Germany
Languages
English Māori
Budget
NZ$$9.2 million[2] (approx. US$3.5 million)[3]
Box office
$41.4 million[3]
Whale Rider is a 2002 New Zealand drama film written and directed by Niki Caro. Based on the 1987 novel The Whale Rider 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.
The film was a coproduction between New Zealand and Germany. It was shot on location in Whangara, the setting of the novel. The world premiere was on 9 September 2002, at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film received critical acclaim upon its release. At age 13, Keisha Castle-Hughes became the youngest nominee for the Academy Award for Best Actress before she was surpassed by Quvenzhané Wallis, at age 9, for Beasts of the Southern Wild, in 2012, less than a decade later. The film earned $41.4 million[3] on a NZ$9,235,000 budget. In 2005, the film was named on the BFI List of the 50 Films You Should See By the Age of 14.
^"WHALE RIDER (PG)". British Board of Film Classification. 20 February 2003. Archived from the original on 24 September 2019. Retrieved 15 January 2012.
^Cite error: The named reference nzfc was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
WhaleRider is a 2002 New Zealand drama film written and directed by Niki Caro. Based on the 1987 novel The WhaleRider by Witi Ihimaera, the film stars...
The WhaleRider is a 1987 novel by New Zealand author Witi Ihimaera. In 2002 it was adapted into a film, WhaleRider, directed by Niki Caro. Set in the...
television, and music video director and screenwriter. Her 2002 film WhaleRider was critically praised and won a number of awards at international film...
Warriors (1994), Three Kings (1999), Blow (2001), Training Day (2001), WhaleRider (2002), Collateral Damage (2002), Sunshine, Live Free or Die Hard (both...
both composers. Gerrard's score for the New Zealand independent film WhaleRider consisted entirely of solo material; a soundtrack album was released...
The Snail and the Whale (2003) by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. Niki Caro's film the WhaleRider has a Māori girl ride a whale in her journey to...
screen actor, director and writer. He is known for his acting roles in WhaleRider (2002) and The Insatiable Moon (2010). Paratene was born at Motukaraka...
whales are three species of large baleen whales of the genus Eubalaena: the North Atlantic right whale (E. glacialis), the North Pacific right whale (E...
of the brand being diluted." The final aircraft with a "Utopia" tail (WhaleRider) was retired in 2006, an Airbus A320-200 registered G-MEDA. Two Bombardier...
treasure vault from which I source my inspiration". His 1987 novel The WhaleRider is his best-known work, read widely by children and adults both in New...
distributed, in North America, such films as The Passion of the Christ, WhaleRider, Monster, Donnie Darko, and God Grew Tired of Us. Newmarket Capital Group...
Whales played important roles in Māori mythology such as Paikea the WhaleRider, and whales appeared as incarnations of ocean deities and tribal guardians...
century, the amount of local content has significantly increased, with WhaleRider (2002) becoming the second-highest-grossing North American independent...
in a New Zealand film award. Best Film WhaleRider Kombi Nation Nemesis Game Best Director Niki Caro, WhaleRider Grant Lahood, Kombi Nation Jesse Warn...
Davis has performed in both film and television, including Black Sheep, WhaleRider and in Taika Waititi's short film Tama Tu. He also starred as Mookie...
hundred chiefs) (Mead & Groves 2001:421). Witi Ihimaera, author of The WhaleRider, says that he has a female kaitiaki (guardian) taniwha named Hine Te...
Whangara was the location and setting for Witi Ihimaera's novel The WhaleRider and its film adaptation. Te Tapuwae o Rongokako Marine Reserve is a marine...
Whale tail is the Y-shaped rear portion of a thong or G-string when visible above the waistline of low-rise pants, shorts, or skirts that resembles a...
released Sione's Wedding and in 2002, the Oscar-nominated feature film WhaleRider. In 1998 the company produced the feature film, What Becomes of the Broken...
southern right whales), the great whale who saved legendary hero Paikea, famously known as the WhaleRider, (also the Maori name for humpback whales) from drowning...
to Whāngārā. Mythology portal New Zealand portal Oceania portal Jonah WhaleRider, a book (by Witi Ihimaera) and film inspired in part by the story of...
Barclay Archived 17 June 2016 at the Wayback Machine Auckland Actors WhaleRider producer & novelist reteam for Medicine Woman – Taken from Screen Daily...
end of each movie. Previous winners of the Golden Space Needle include WhaleRider for 2003, Trainspotting for 1996, Kiss of the Spider Woman for 1985 and...
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