On the east coast of New Zealand, the Whangara people believe their presence there dates back a thousand years or more to a single ancestor, Paikea, who escaped death when his canoe capsized by riding to shore on the back of a whale. From then on, Whangara chiefs, always the first-born, always male, have been considered Paikea's direct descendants. Pai, an 11-year-old girl in a patriarchal New Zealand tribe, believes she is destined to be the new chief. But her grandfather Koro is bound by tradition to pick a male leader. Pai loves Koro more than anyone in the world, but she must fight him and a thousand years of tradition to fulfill her destiny.

• DirectorNiki Caro
• Release30 January 2003
• Genre
  Drama / Family
• Duration1h 41m
• Budget$8,000,000
• Revenue$41,400,000
• Rate
  

  7.1
  412 reviews
• Productions

  South Pacific Pictures, Pandora Film, ApolloMedia, New Zealand Film Production Fund, New Zealand Film Commission, NZ on Air, Filmstiftung Nordrhein-Westfalen