| Whale Rider Director Niki Caro to Receive the International Achievement in Filmmaking Award at ShoWest this year. |
Mitch Neuhauser, co-managing director of ShoWest made the announcement in Los Angeles. “Whale Rider was one of
the true stand out films of last year -- with amazing performances, especially by Keisha Castle-Hughes, and its fantastic
visual style,” said Neuhauser. "We thank Newmarket Films for allowing us to debut this film before the Industry at
the 2003 convention and we could not be more pleased to honor Niki's work. We look forward to what we know is going
to be an incredible career.”
Whale Rider, is a contemporary re-telling of a Maori legend, a young girl must challenge her grandfather and a
thousand years of tradition to fulfill her destiny. The film was shot entirely In Whangara, a coastal village on the
magnificent East Coast of New Zealand's North Island. It stars newcomer and Academy Award-Nominee (Best Actress)
Keisha Castle-Hughes as Pai, and three of New Zealand's most distinguished actors: Rawiri Paratene as Koro, Vicky
Haughton as Nanny Flowers and Cliff Curtis as Porourangi, the girl's father.
Niki Caro adapted the best selling 1986 book by Witi Ihimeara, the first Maori novelist to be published In New Zealand.
Tim Sanders, John Barnett and Frank Hubner produced the film for South Pacific Pictures, Apollo Media and Pandora
Film. Author Witi Ihimeara served as Associate Producer.
Caro’s next project is Class Action for Warner Bros. and Industry Entertainment, written by Michael Seitzman. The
film is based on the nonfiction book by Clara Bingham and Laura Leedy, about Jenson vs. Eveleth Mines, a case that
forced corporations to take seriously sexual harassment in the workplace.
Caro was born and raised in Auckland, New Zealand. She graduated from Kaimah College and became interested in
filmmaking during her studies at Auckland University's Elam School of Fine Arts. She was greatly inspired by Vincent
Ward’s Vigil, a coming of age story set in rural New Zealand. After a year of study at a Melbourne film school, She
returned to Auckland and began to write scripts. She made two notable short films: Sure to Rise, which was screened at
the 1994 Cannes Film Festival and Footage and offbeat study of footwear fetishism, selected for the 1996 Venice Film
Festival.
Caro's television drama The Summer the Queen Came, an affectionate look at the small, twisted details of life in
suburbia, earned her best writer and director nominations in the 1994 New Zealand Film and Television Awards.
Past ShoWest award winners were: Ang Lee for Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon, Jean-Pierre Jeunet for Amelie,
and Fernando Meirelles for City of God.
the true stand out films of last year -- with amazing performances, especially by Keisha Castle-Hughes, and its fantastic
visual style,” said Neuhauser. "We thank Newmarket Films for allowing us to debut this film before the Industry at
the 2003 convention and we could not be more pleased to honor Niki's work. We look forward to what we know is going
to be an incredible career.”
Whale Rider, is a contemporary re-telling of a Maori legend, a young girl must challenge her grandfather and a
thousand years of tradition to fulfill her destiny. The film was shot entirely In Whangara, a coastal village on the
magnificent East Coast of New Zealand's North Island. It stars newcomer and Academy Award-Nominee (Best Actress)
Keisha Castle-Hughes as Pai, and three of New Zealand's most distinguished actors: Rawiri Paratene as Koro, Vicky
Haughton as Nanny Flowers and Cliff Curtis as Porourangi, the girl's father.
Niki Caro adapted the best selling 1986 book by Witi Ihimeara, the first Maori novelist to be published In New Zealand.
Tim Sanders, John Barnett and Frank Hubner produced the film for South Pacific Pictures, Apollo Media and Pandora
Film. Author Witi Ihimeara served as Associate Producer.
Caro’s next project is Class Action for Warner Bros. and Industry Entertainment, written by Michael Seitzman. The
film is based on the nonfiction book by Clara Bingham and Laura Leedy, about Jenson vs. Eveleth Mines, a case that
forced corporations to take seriously sexual harassment in the workplace.
Caro was born and raised in Auckland, New Zealand. She graduated from Kaimah College and became interested in
filmmaking during her studies at Auckland University's Elam School of Fine Arts. She was greatly inspired by Vincent
Ward’s Vigil, a coming of age story set in rural New Zealand. After a year of study at a Melbourne film school, She
returned to Auckland and began to write scripts. She made two notable short films: Sure to Rise, which was screened at
the 1994 Cannes Film Festival and Footage and offbeat study of footwear fetishism, selected for the 1996 Venice Film
Festival.
Caro's television drama The Summer the Queen Came, an affectionate look at the small, twisted details of life in
suburbia, earned her best writer and director nominations in the 1994 New Zealand Film and Television Awards.
Past ShoWest award winners were: Ang Lee for Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon, Jean-Pierre Jeunet for Amelie,
and Fernando Meirelles for City of God.
Vegas' Arts & Entertainment Corner
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