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Whale Rider makes huge splash at TIFF
OnFilm
October 2002

Just two weeks after the Tall Blacks stunned the sports world, another underdog from Down Under scored a major triumph, this time on the world film stage. In arguably the most important achievement of a New Zealand film in North America since Once Were Warriors conquered the festival circuit, Whale Rider won hearts and a huge award at the 27th Toronto International Film Festival in early September.

Toronto is recognised as the most important film festival in North America. The decision of Whale Rider’s producers to give the film its international premiere here paid off big-time. Although not an award-driven festival, the TIFF does hand out prizes. The biggest and best is the AGF People’s Choice Award, voted on by film-goers, not critics.

And the winner (over 344 other entries from 50 countries) is… Whale Rider. Niki Caro’s feature was an unhyped contender, being largely ignored by the local and national media prior to and during the festival. The only outlet to hint at its impending success was The Toronto Star, which polled festival programmers and industry players and named Whale Rider as the top film in its “Chasing the Buzz” preview.

In between the two public screenings, the National Post’s Liloo Alim did single Whale Rider out as a “must-see.” She wrote that “the movie is about what happens when a little girl considers herself good enough to break with tradition. It is beautifully filmed by Niki Caro, and Keisha Castle-Hughes is gorgeous as Pai.”

Alim noted that “at the end of last night’s screening, everyone in the audience stood up and applauded. It was a very emotional moment for Ms. Caro, who had tears of joy streaming down her face.”

The Toronto Star also included Whale Rider in a feature that talked about the coming-of-age of a young girl theme that marked more than a dozen festival films.

That indefinable thing called “buzz” quickly spread, and on the festival’s closing day, two Globe and Mail critics singled out Whale Rider as their buzz choice of the TIFF.

In reporting her victory, Toronto Star critic Peter Howell mistakenly referred to Whale Rider as Caro’s first feature she, of course, helmed 1998’s Memory And Desire). He also wrote that “the publicity-shy Caro is so unknown to cineastes, her photo doesn’t appear in the festival program, and she didn’t make it to yesterday’s awards brunch at The Four Seasons Hotel”. “I think she must still be horizontal in her hotel room, after I told her,” said the film’s sales agent, Rosa Bosch, accepting the award on Caro’s behalf. “I don’t think she managed to stand up.”

This marked the first time a film from the festival’s new-director Discovery Program won the People’s Choice award. Whale Rider out-scored Michael Moore’s highly-publicised and controversial documentary Bowling For Columbine and British soccer comedy Bend It Like Beckham.

Check this out for a partial list of previous People’s Choice winners: Shine, Strictly Ballroom and, in the past four years, Life Is Beautiful, American Beauty, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Amelie. Heady company.

The fact that the second most significant TIFF prize, that for Best Canadian Feature, went to David Cronenberg’s Spider encouraged the National Post to emblazon their front page with the caption “Big prizes go to Cronenberg’s Spider and a Kiwi Whale.”

Chatting with Caro
Given this prestigious award, Caro’s status as an unknown has been consigned to a watery grave. The writer/director certainly didn’t seem publicity-shy to this scribe. Between screening of Whale Rider, she spoke at length to Onfilm about the making of the film and initial reaction to it.

She was gratified to hear that response at the packed press screening I attended was equally positive. Hard-bitten media and industry types cried freely during certain scenes, and burst into spontaneous applause as credits rolled. That’s clearly a sign of positive things to come.

Caro confessed to being “overwhelmed” at the audience response in Toronto. “I knew the screenings were sold out when we got here, which was really lovely, but I was not prepared for people to respond so emotionally to the film. There was a standing ovation at the end. You don’t even dare to dream about that kind of ting, and for it to happen on the film’s very, very first screening…”

Why the Toronto festival for the international premiere? “We were ready. I personally would have quite like to go to Venice, because I’ve never been there before [laughs], but Toronto is a much better festival for selling a film. That is why we’re here. The plus side is that the audiences are so warm, the festival is so well-run, and it’s huge!”

Caro defers to producer John Barnett (managing director of South Pacific Pictures) on questions of sales prospects and deals, but acknowledges that “I certainly have reason to feel pretty optimistic about sales. The film is in very good hands.” [At press time, Newmarket Films has acquired all North American rights to Whale Rider, while Barnett says the film will be released in NZ on January 30, 2003. On a slightly more ephemeral note, the film has already been picked as n Academy Award Best Picture contender by website Oscarwatch.com – Ed]

Whale Rider is not a conventional family-oriented feature, but Caro denies it may be a hard sell to attract that audience. “I don’t see it necessarily as challenging. I think it has something to offer that people are really craving. It is a really emotional story, not a sentimental one. It’s a story with a great message for both children and adults as well. An adult can have a deeper reading of it, but I have sat through it with a child of seven, and they totally get it. I just think that the world is ready for something like this. I hope it is this!”

Attempts to turn Whale Rider into a film began over a decade ago. “The book was written in 1986 and optioned immediately,” Caro explains. “I was not involved in earlier work on it. Shortly after Memory And Desire won Best Film at the New Zealand Film Awards, John Barnett approached me to see it I was interested in directing their latest script.

“It was some years old, and I wasn’t that interested in the script. I was profoundly moved by the book, though, so I suggested I could write a draft that was my vision for the film. If he liked it, we could proceed. If not, see you later, that’s fine.”

“I think the difference [from earlier scripts] is that I was a 12 year old girl. Very few of the earlier writers were. That sounds really flippant, but I felt a very strong connection to the character and I could just take it in a slightly different direction from the work done previously. In some cases, quite radically different.”

She praises the support given by Whale Rider’s author, Witi Ihimaera (an associate producer on the film). “He is so generous. I would send every draft I wrote, and got nothing but encouragement.”

Caro observes that “this is the second great novella I have I have adapted [Peter Wells wrote Memory And Desire]. I am so privileged. To make the transition to screen, things have to change structurally to make a satisfying narrative for film. But spiritually it should remain absolutely accurate. When people see the film I want them to have the same feeling as when they read the book. Both books have very little dialogue, so one of my major contributions to the story is to give the characters voice.”

Whale wrangling

According to Caro, making the film “was a total lovefest. There is no dirt to dish on the production side. They stepped back and trusted us to do it, and were very supportive of things that needed too change.

“One thing that’s important to know about his film is that it was really collaborative with the iwi. There is not way you can make a film like this and not be. The film is so rich because of their involvement, in so many ways I would run your tape out.”

Some post-production work on Whale Rider was done in Germany. “I won’t say that wasn’t difficult, but that was more about being away from our partners and families and in a country where we didn’t know the language and hated the food! The work done there, mostly sound post-production, was superb.”

Caro admits to secrecy on the set at Whangara, especially in regards to the whale scenes. “There was secrecy around it because we didn’t want anybody coming down and taking pictures and blowing our gig. We were trying to do something that in cinematic terms is really hard – whale strandings. These highly emotional and moving scenes with big pieces of fibreglass!”

Aiding the authentic look of the whales was the use of stock footage. “I made the decision to do that early on,” says the director. “I have seen every piece of stock footage of southern right whales shot anywhere in the world! We could then match our whales to the footage, and we had Grant Major [The Lord Of The Rings], the greatest production designer on this earth.”

The whale sequences posed the biggest logistic challenge, but Caro notes ‘there were lots of other challenges emotionally and culturally. Physically, it was a very intense shoot, but everybody was hugely supportive of the story and that made it a joy really.”

Caro believes Whale Rider “will spark huge discussion in New Zealand. I don’t think we have seen a film yet that really celebrates the Maori culture in this way. Like the end of the film, and all that potent, beautiful and important stuff about the Maori culture.”

She is excited about bringing the film to Whangara. “On October 20 we will have a screening there for the iwi. It will be amazing to take it back to the people. It is theirs.”

The Toronto victory for Whale Rider must also be heartening news to the New Zealand Film Fund, for it’s their first venture. “We are the first cab off that particular rank,” observes Caro. “That is not the pressure. The pressure is telling that story well, so people are satisfied. The more successful this film can be, the more opportunity for the next filmmaker, for Gaylene [Preston] and Vincent [Ward] and all these incredible directors we have in New Zealand. The Fund will help us make films with a slightly bigger scope, so Lee [Tamihori], Jane [Campion], come home!”

Caro is an unabashedly patriotic filmmaker. “I am hugely committed to New Zealand. We are low-key about our cinema culture, but every time I go to one of these festivals, people ask how this tiny country at the bottom of the world can produce such extraordinary filmmakers.”

Accompanying Niki Caro to the TIFF was her luminous young star, Keisha Castle-Hughes, who reportedly proved a natural at the promotion game.

“After our screening, she was signing autographs as though she was born to do it,” reports Caro. “But is was in the most unpretentious, unprecocious, charming and beautiful way. She is a really special kid.