A Home In This World

It’s complicated doesn’t even begin to describe Robin Hyde, one of New Zealand’s finest writers of novels, poetry and journalism. She was a sort of cross between Amy Winehouse, Frida Kahlo and Virginia Woolf. She was also one of the world's first female war correspondents going behind the lines in the Sino-Japanese war.

In addition to battling disability, drug addiction, mental illness, poverty, and exploitation at work, she had the ordeal of hiding her secret baby.

In October 1930, after taking leave from her job to spend her confinement in a small town, Hyde gave birth to Derek Arden Challis, the son she would keep secret for the rest of her life.

The on-going dilemma of concealing Derek from her colleagues, her friends, and even from her own family, while struggling to provide for him, was one of many torments that plagued Hyde throughout her short life.

Although she was forced to find foster care for Derek she refused to allow him to be adopted out. She planned to make some money from her books in England so she and Derek could live together in New Zealand in a little house in the bush. Due to tragic events those plans never eventuated.

Derek, eight years old when his mother died, now 87, tells the story of their relationship while Hyde was alive and describes how his mother must have felt during her struggles. He offers new insight into a writer’s emotional state of mind, describes his own path as a foster child and then orphan, and ultimately provides a resolution to their respective journeys.

  • i-Deels Productions
    Producer
  • Double Farley
    Associate Producers
    Set In Stone
  • Juanita Deely
    Director
  • Juanita Deely
    Writer
  • Derek Challis
    Key Cast
    "Himself"
  • Robin Hyde
    Key Cast
    "Herself"
  • Kevin Double
    Director of Photography
    Set In Stone
  • Kevin Double
    Editor
    Set In Stone
  • Hocken Collections, Otago Museum
    Image Acknowledgments
  • Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, 35-R1090
    Image Acknowledgments
  • Wairarapa Archives
    Image Acknowledgments
  • Australian National Maritime Museum, Samuel J. Hood Studio Collection
    Image Acknowledgments
  • Derek Challis Private Photograph Collection
    Image Acknowledgments
  • Fairfax New Zealand Limited
    Image Acknowledgments
  • Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, 4-5668
    Image Acknowledgments
  • Digitising funded with assistance of the Tennyson Charitable Trust, 2007-2009
    Image Acknowledgments
  • Images of the Observer, 25 December 1920, reproduced from paperspast.natlib.govt.nz by permission of the National Library of New Zealand
    Image Acknowledgments
  • Alexander Turnbull Library
    Image Acknowledgements
  • Deng Bangzhen
    Painting Acknowledgement
    for use of his painting of Robin Hyde in China
  • Morrison, R. (1978)
    Image Acknowledgements
    Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira. PH-1992-5-RM-N10-1. ©
  • Auckland Museum
    Image Acknowledgements
    "Orakei Marae, Maori Parliament" PH-NEG-C5954
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Short
  • Runtime:
    14 minutes 15 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    January 11, 2018
  • Production Budget:
    14,000 NZD
  • Country of Origin:
    New Zealand
  • Country of Filming:
    New Zealand
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    BMPCC ProRes 1080p24
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • DocEdge 2018
    Wellington
    New Zealand
    May 20, 2018
    World premiere
    Official selection
  • DocEdge 2018
    Auckland
    New Zealand
    June 3, 2018
    Official selection
  • Going West 2018
    Auckland
    New Zealand
    September 12, 2018
    Official selection
Director Biography - Juanita Deely

Ever since Juanita first heard the story of Cinderella, she knew she preferred verisimilitude. At the tender age of four, the fantasy of a Prince Charming searching for a bride on the basis that he’d danced with her once seemed foolish. She wanted stories that were believable, authentic.

Although she spent many years gaining qualifications and then working in Wellington, Apia, London and Washington DC she gave away advertising to change tack to writing.

She enrolled in a creative non-fiction writing course at Victoria University and has since written essays, travel stories and obituaries for magazines and newspapers. She has spent the last decade writing a number of spec and commissioned screenplays.

This is her first documentary.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

A female journalist I know was exploited every single day at work. She was paid half of what her male colleagues earned, did twice the amount of work, with zero chance of promotion. She battled on. One day, out of the blue, she was fired.

Many people will think they recognize this story from recent news headlines, but in this particular case, there was no media storm. Not a single person took up her cause or offered her support. That’s because this happened back in the 1930s. It’s one of Robin Hyde’s many stories that resonate with people today.

As a result, there has been a revival of attention paid to Robin Hyde demonstrated by a stream of new publications about her, numerous reprints of her books, posthumous publishing of her work, a commissioned opera, national radio readings of her work, and plaques in public places.

But in all this, little attention has been paid to Robin Hyde’s secret baby, biographer and son Derek Challis, now aged 89. Being a child born out of wedlock, fostered and then orphaned Derek has had a successful and happy life. After a life writing about his mother, publishing her work, and considering aspects of her struggle and how they pertain to him, Derek shares compelling insights on a writer’s extraordinary resilience, courage, wit, and determination to live an unconventional life in less tolerant times.