NFB Collection
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