Rosemary Riddell is a district court judge in Hamilton, a city two hours south of Auckland, New Zealand. She has just directed her first feature film, The Insatiable Moon (currently screening in the UK), and has also won a Hollywood Moondance Film Festival award for directing the short film Cake Tin.
Before being appointed to the bench - and almost certainly the only feature film director whose day job is being a judge - she specialised in family law while juggling competing interests in theatre, film-making and raising children.
She became a district court judge in 2006, presiding over family and criminal matters. She is also a contributing editor to a New Zealand legal commentary on domestic violence.
What did you want to be when you were a child?
On the stage. In a gender-bending role I was the Little Drummer Boy in the Christmas play when I was five.
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What was your first job?
Working in a fruit shop after school, but my first real job was writing radio programmes while moonlighting acting in theatre.
What is your most treasured possession?
Definitely my husband Mike (with three children and one grandson close behind).
Which book inspires you and why?
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Hard to limit it to one. I loved The Life of Pi by Yann Martel and The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy for their luminous style but Clowns of God by Morris West is an old favourite for the achingly beautiful treatment of the young intellectually disabled people.
How do you relax?
Playing the piano, drinking New Zealand’s fine white wines and tinkering on my iPad (the latest toy).
What’s the best thing on TV?
I’m a fan of Grand Designs which is a huge hit here in New Zealand.
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What’s your favourite song/music on your iPod and why?
Leonard Cohen, Van Morrison, Bob Dylan - my musical tastes show my age...
Which film do you wish you had appeared in?
The Insatiable Moon. I had a small role but it ended on the cutting room floor. A director’s job can be tough.
Who is your hero/ine and why?
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My husband Mike for his writing skills, his talent in the kitchen and for cheering me on through the years.
What’s the most adventurous thing you have ever done - or would like to do - non-professionally?
I went parapenting once; leaping off the side of a hill convinced I’d die, but needing to face 50 in style.
Which person, living or dead or fictional, would you have as your ideal dinner guest - why?
Leonard Cohen - who needs a reason?
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What is your best quality?
Asking people the difficult but revealing questions. Useful for a judge, but also at dinner parties.
What is your worst quality?
Impatience with mediocrity.
What quality do you hate most in others?
Bigotry.
What would you want as your epitaph?
I’ll be the judge of that!