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WHALE RIDER WINS AT TORONTO
MEDIA RELEASE: 16 SEPTEMBER 2002

Whale Rider, the South Pacific Pictures-produced feature film, has won the AGF People’s Choice Award at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival.

345 films screened over the 10-day festival and Whale Rider, which had its world debut in Toronto, was voted the favorite of the festival audiences, known worldwide for their enthusiasm and love of cinema.

Whale Rider joins an exclusive list of influential films – the last four winners of the People’s Choice Award were Amélie; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; American Beauty and Life Is Beautiful. Runners-up for this year’s People’s Choice Award were Bend It Like Beckham and Michael Moore’s Bowling For Columbine.

Producer John Barnett says the Toronto audiences were captivated by the film, its young star Keisha Castle-Hughes and director Niki Caro.

“We are so thrilled to win this award – it is voted by audiences, so it has real validity and the Toronto audience were the first anywhere to see the film,” says Barnett.

Directed by Niki Caro (Memory and Desire), Whale Rider is based on the novel by acclaimed New Zealand writer Witi Ihimaera (The Matriarch, Tangi). It stars newcomer Keisha Castle-Hughes, Rawiri Paratene, Vicky Haughton, and Cliff Curtis (Collateral Damage, Training Day, Blow, Jubilee, The Insider, Three Kings, and Once Were Warriors).

Whale Rider is represented internationally by London-based sales agent, The Works, and represented in New Zealand and Australia by Buena Vista International. BVI will release Whale Rider in New Zealand next year.

Whale Rider is produced for South Pacific Pictures, ApolloMedia and Pandora Film by Tim Sanders; John Barnett; and Frank Hübner of ApolloMedia. Executive Producers are Bill Gavin and Linda Goldstein Knowlton. Author Witi Ihimaera is also Associate Producer.

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.