The Fairy Faith

20001 h 17 min 2 secFilm: Documentary

Direction: John Walker

Production: John Walker (John Walker Productions Ltd.)Kent Martin (National Film Board of Canada)Sally Bochner

Script: John Walker

Produced by John Walker Productions Ltd. in co-production with the National Film Board of Canada in association with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and with the participation of the Canadian Television Fund, created by the Government of Canada and the Canadian Cable Industry, Telefilm Canada - Equity Investment Program, CTF: Licence Fee Program and with the assistance participation of Canadian Film or Video Tax Credit and the Rogers Documentary Fund.

A fairy couple tries to steal a man's shadow. Another takes a man's wife. And yet another, claims a retired police chief, braided a horse's mane! "The little people." You can shrug them off as superstition, but what explains their perennial appeal?

As a boy, filmmaker John Walker learned the difference between a fairy tale and the fairy faith from his grandmother, who told him that if your heart is open, the fairies and their fabled world can be seen in the landscape.

In search of this ancient belief, Walker travels to the moors of England, the Highlands of Scotland and sacred sites in Ireland and Cape Breton. He meets a storyteller who saves an ancient fairy thorn bush from town developers, a painter who conjures up their magical features, and a Mi'kmaq elder who gives advice on how to understand the mysterious lot.

Magnificently photographed and set to a score of otherworldly music, The Fairy Faith spirits us away into another dimension.

Availability


Subject categories


  • Foreign Countries > EuropeGreat Britain
  • Literature and Language > Legends, Myths, and Tales
  • Religion, Beliefs and Ethics > Mythology

Credits


participation
Alex Goldie
Ai Yamamoto
Eve Maureen Gregory
Dylan Dammermann
Ben Carter-Whitney
Simone Sinclair Walker
Peter Aziz
Mark Fox
Elizabeth Jane Baldry
Brian Froud
Dolina Wallace
Gregor Hutcheson
Mervyn Browne
Eddie Lenihan
Kathleen Boyle
Hugh Boyle
Neil Boyle
Con Boyle
Hugh Martin Boyle
Seamus MacGabhann
An Raithe
Falcarnagh
Robert Bryce
John Kelly
James Clarity
Cormac MacConnell
Tom Carey
John MacInnes
Sinead MacInnes
Stephen Oldale
Patrick Marshall
Norman Morris
Eli Charles Johnson
Bryan Thomas Johnson
Murdena Marshall
Roderick Bernard
Mary Rose Julian
April R. Julian
writer
John Walker
director
John Walker
producer
John Walker
Kent Martin
editor
Angela Baker
cinematographer
Nigel Markham
John Walker
sound recordist
Alex Salter
music
Scott MacMillan
Glen Coolen
Mark Currie
Ian MacMillan
John Spearns
Elizabeth Jane Baldry
song
Mary Jane Lamond
production manager
Deborah Parks
production co-ordinator
Barbara Sniderman
location transportation
John Butler
additional photography
Jim Aquila
Robert Zimmerman
additional sound
Ross Redfern
assistant picture editor
Jason McLeod
John Rosborough
research
Elizabeth Klinck
Nisha Pahuja
additional research
Gillian Marsh
Tanya Gillian
Barbara Rieti
research consultant
Margaret Bennett
production accountant
Michael Foy
sound editor
Alex Salter
re-recording mixer
Lou Solakofski
Dave Nighswander
executive producer
Sally Bochner
production supervisor
Patricia Coughran
program administrator
John William Lutz
administrative assistant
Stephanie Coolen
Vanessa Larsen