Hey, this is Annie.

And Samantha.

And welcome to Steph on Never Told You, a production of Iheart Radio.

And we're back with another sub, sub, sub, sub,sub-sub-sub-sub segment of fictional women around the world.

We're doing a lot of throwbacks lately with our movie choices.

Because today we are talking about Paikeya Piapai Apriana from the 2002 film Whale writer.

She was played by Keisha Castle Hughes, who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress.

It is directed by Nicky Caro and based on the novel of the same name by Wita Ihimair.

It was a coming-of-age story that had a sense of place

and resonated around the world, and it did win multiple awards. I haven't watched it in a long

time, but I remember the first time I watched it. It's been a very long time. Yeah, yeah, but it was,

I remember it being so popular and so many people were talking about it at the time.

The plot of the movie follows Maori 12-year-old girl Pye, who is the only surviving child of her family.

She grows up with her uncle, grandmother, and grandfather, who is the patriarch and refuses to acknowledge her as the heir.

So she was born with a brother.

The brother died, and he's not going to allow Pye to be the heir.

Her mother and brother died in childbirth, and her mother's last words were Pachia, Pekia.

And that's what her father named her against his own father's

wishes. However, Pye's father doesn't stick around, and her grandfather only takes her in with

great reluctance, believing that she is going to be of no use. Even further, he blames her for what

happens and for the tribe's misfortunes.

Her father goes on to become an artist on the international scene, and after a brief return home, doesn't listen to his father and refuses to become the tribe's leader.

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