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WHALE RIDER TAKES $5 MILLION
MEDIA RELEASE: 14 APRIL 2003

Whale Rider, the South Pacific Pictures-produced feature film, has now taken more than $5 million at the New Zealand box office.

The film is now in its 11th week in release, and most of that time has been the number one picture.

Whale Rider is distributed in New Zealand and Australia by Buena Vista International.

Written and directed by Niki Caro, Whale Rider is based on the novel by acclaimed New Zealand writer Witi Ihimaera. It stars newcomer Keisha Castle-Hughes, Rawiri Paratene, Vicky Haughton, and Cliff Curtis.

- Whale Rider is produced by South Pacific Pictures, ApolloMedia and Pandora Film. The Producers are Tim Sanders, John Barnett, and Frank Hübner.

- The film tells the story of a young girl’s fight to prove her love, her leadership and her destiny, and is shot on location in Whangara, on the East Coast.

- Whale Rider is the first film to receive funding from the New Zealand Government’s new Film Production Fund. Other investors in the film are ApolloMedia in Germany, Filmstiftung NRW, The New Zealand Film Commission and NZ on Air.