Whale Rider - Awards

Awards

The film won a number of international film-festival awards, including:

• the Toronto International Film Festival's AGF Peoples Choice award in September 2002
• the World Cinema Audience award at the January 2003 Sundance Film Festival in the United States
• the Canal Plus Award at the January 2003 Rotterdam Film Festival.

Keisha Castle-Hughes was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance, becoming the youngest actress ever nominated for the award. She was 13 years old at the time.

Academy Awards:

• Best Actress (Keisha Castle-Hughes, lost to Charlize Theron for Monster)

Chicago Film Critics Association:

• Best Actress (Keisha Castle-Hughes, lost to Charlize Theron for Monster)
• Most Promising Filmmaker (Niki Caro, lost to Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini for American Splendor)
• Most Promising Performer (Keisha Castle-Hughes, winner)

Image Awards:

• Best Actress (Keisha Castle-Hughes, lost to Queen Latifah for Bringing Down the House)
• Best Film (lost to The Fighting Temptations)

Independent Spirit Awards:

• Best Foreign Film (winner)

New Zealand Film Awards:

• Best Film
• Best Director (Niki Caro)
• Best Actress (Keisha Castle-Hughes)
• Best Supporting Actor (Cliff Curtis)
• Best Supporting Actress (Vicky Haughton)
• Best Juvenile Performer (Mana Taumanu)
• Best Screenplay (Niki Caro)
• Best Original Score (Lisa Gerrard)
• Best Costume Design (Kirsty Cameron)

Satellite Awards

• Best Art Direction (lost to The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King)
• Best Director (Niki Caro, lost to Jim Sheridan for In America)
• Best Film – Drama (lost to In America)
• Best Screenplay – Adapted (Niki Caro, lost to Brian Helgeland for Mystic River)

Screen Actors Guild:

• Best Supporting Actress (Keisha Castle-Hughes, lost to Renée Zellweger for Cold Mountain)

Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association:

• Best Actress (Keisha Castle-Hughes, lost to Naomi Watts for 21 Grams)