The quiet, mesmerising score for this intimate movie about a young Maori Girl facing her tribal destiny is composed by Australian musician Lisa Gerrard, best known for her work alongside Hans Zimmer on the score for Gladiator and her own arrangements for the Oscar-nominated film The Insider.

One of the most charming and critically acclaimed films of 2003, this crowd pleasing New Zealand hit effectively combined Maori tribal tradition with the timely girl power of the vibrant new millennium. In a small New Zealand coastal village, Maori claim descent from Paikea, the Whale Rider and in every generation a male heir has succeeded to the chiefly title. That time is now. But when twins are born, and the boy twin dies, the chief Koro is unable to accept his grand-daughter, Pai, as a future leader. Convinced that the tribe’s misfortunes began at Pai’s birth Koro calls for his people to bring their sons to him, sure that a new leader will be revealed. Pai loves her grandfather more than anyone in the world, but she must fight him and a thousand years of tradition to fulfil her destiny.

Known for her ambient sound design and her extraordinary voice, Gerrard’s score – with accompanying synths, her own gossamer vocal performance and chantings by the Ngasti Konghi people - sound as breezy and liquidy as the ocean itself, giving this charming film an atmosphere of vast, seemingly infinite spaces. Ubiquitous, always there like the sea yet never drawing attention to itself, this is quiet, otherworldly stuff.

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