Niki Caro's début was Memory and Desire selected for Cannes Festival in 1998. Her short films Footage and Sur to Rise have been selected respectively for Venice Festival in 1996 and in the Critics' Week section, Cannes 1994. Her tv productions had many acknowledgments both in New Zealand and abroad. The Summer the Queen Came deserved her a nomination as best screenplayer and director at the New Zealand Film and Television Awards in 1994.