SUNDAY , 25 APRIL 2004
By ANNA CHALMERS
An emotional Niki Caro yesterday accepted another award, this time from actress Keisha Castle-Hughes, who paid tribute to the
Whale Rider director for making her "dream come true".
Caro received the "Woman to Watch" award at the Women in Film and Television International World Summit, in Auckland last
week.
The 14-year-old Whale Rider star, who this year became the youngest Academy Award-nominated actress, said during filming
she had wanted to work with the "ambitious" but "gentle" Caro "for ever and ever".
Caro shed tears as she paid tribute to the unsung heroes of Whale Rider and thanked Castle-Hughes for "the best introduction I
will ever get in my life".
Academy Award winner Fran Walsh got the international achievement award for her role in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, while
fellow Academy Award winner costume designer Ngila Dickson won the outstanding achievement award.
Reality TV queeen Julie Christie won the international achievement in television award, as founder of Touchdown Productions.
Some of the country's best-known film and TV faces were in the crowd, including former Xena star Lucy Lawless, actors
Jennifer Ward-Lealand and Cliff Curtis and Perfect Strangers director Gaylene Preston.
Lawless, based in LA for the last eight years, came home for the summit and told the Sunday Star-Times she hoped to soon
move here for good.
"I'm trying to get something down here, that's the dream. It feels like I've been away too long. I think there's a real sense of
excitement here, like it's a burgeoning spirit."
Meanwhile, Castle-Hughes will spend the rest of the year at Penrose High School where she is sitting NCEA level one - a year
ahead of her peers.
Castle-Hughes, who played Pai in Whale Rider, was at the centre of Hollywood during the run-up to this year's Academy
Awards, but is in no rush to go back. "It was fun while it lasted, but that was enough to last me a long time."
Despite considering a "few" acting projects and advice from friends telling her to stay in film, Castle-Hughes was less sure.
"All my life I've had this dream about wanting to be an actor, but it's easy to say and then once you get there . . . I've done so
much growing since (Whale Rider)," she said.
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