Matters of the heart
Robin Scholes is one of our most prolific visual storytellers. She is the woman behind one of the most successful New Zealand movies of all time, and the valiant survivor of a particularly vicious home invasion. Yet she remains largely an enigma, preferring to fly under the radar, not seeking publicity for herself.
“The wider family was suspicious of my education… it separates you out, makes you different.”
She is strong, independent and determined, attributes that are due in no small measure to her early beginnings. “My dad wanted a son, that’s why he named me Robin with an ‘i’. He gave me boys’ toys. I had a big Meccano set and a Hornby train set that I would spread out all over the living room. It was an extraordinary start. There was no gender agenda in my house.”
The only child of Charles Terry Fletcher and Dorothy Kidd, Robin grew up in a state house in the Auckland suburb of Orakei.
“It had a huge section, lots of trees; I spent hours outside exploring and digging out roads with my trucks. I lived in a world of my imagination.
