The House Within

With a body of work spanning six decades and over 30 books of fiction, poetry, and memoir, Fiona Kidman has become one of New Zealand’s celebrated authors. This feature-length documentary draws a contemplative portrait of the writer's inner world, and the lifetime that has shaped her stories. Captured at 83-years-old in her hilltop Wellington home, Kidman looks back to her early life and developing career as an author. In his first feature-length documentary, Joshua Prendeville (In Passing) looks at the experiences, passions and setbacks that have driven Kidman's work. 

The effect is one of a slow unravelling: of Prendeville coaxing out the threads of Kidman’s story, keeping a close and tidy stitch to the theme of “the house” which is symbolic of the central concerns of Kidman’s artistic worlds – the restricted lives of women and the subversion that erupts because of it; the “brutalisation” of men; and the scars of societal injustice. 

– Spinoff writer Claire Mabey, in a review of the film, 1 August 2024

Key Cast & Crew

Bill Bycroft

Cinematographer

Kerry Prendeville

Producer

Victoire Maderou

Producer

Xavier Mañetto

Composer

Fiona Kidman

Subject

Joshua Prendeville

Director, Writer, Producer