A Portrait of Katherine Mansfield

Katherine Mansfield, a rare New Zealand writer to achieve international renown, left for Europe as a 19-year-old. Written and directed by Julienne Stretton, this documentary examines Mansfield's complicated relationships with her family and homeland, her turbulent personal life, her writing — credited with changing the course of the English short story — and her early death in France in 1923, at age 34. Shot in five countries and presented by actor Catherine Wilkin, it includes interviews with her companion, Ida Baker (from 1974) and biographer Claire Tomalin. Ilona Rodgers reads from Mansfield’s writings.

I want, for one moment, to make our undiscovered country leap into the eyes of the old world. But all must be told with a sense of mystery, a radiance, an afterglow.

– Katherine Mansfield

Key Cast & Crew

Bayly Watson

Camera

Gillian Boddy

Research

Catherine Wilkin

Presenter

Julienne Stretton

Writer, Director

Sue Kedgley

Producer

Ilona Rodgers

Voice of Katherine Mansfield