FairyTale: A True Story

In 1917, two British girls took a series of photographs that sparked a debate that would last for decades. Nine-year-old Frances Griffiths and her sixteen-year-old cousin, Elsie Wright, lived in the small village of Cottingley in Yorkshire and claimed to have photographed fairies in their backyard. What began as a childhood game soon became one of the most fascinating controversies of the 20th century.

The images showed the girls surrounded by tiny winged figures, seemingly posing beside them. At a time when photography was still an emerging technology, these snapshots were seen by some as the first scientific proof of the existence of fairies. The story caught the attention of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the famous creator of Sherlock Holmes, who, fascinated by spiritualism and the paranormal, became one of the leading advocates of the photos' authenticity.

The excitement surrounding the images grew when Doyle published an article in The Strand Magazine in 1920, arguing that the photos were irrefutable evidence of supernatural beings. The news spread quickly, generating both admiration and skepticism. While some believed the Cottingley fairies were a revelation, others, including photographers and scientists, suspected that the images were an elaborate hoax.

Over the years, the photos were subjected to various analyses. Some experts of the time concluded that there was no evidence of manipulation in the negatives, which only added to the uncertainty. However, in the 1980s, now elderly, Frances and Elsie admitted that the photographs had been a trick. They had cut out illustrations of fairies from a children's book and pinned them in place to make them appear real. Nevertheless, Frances insisted until her death that one of the five photos did indeed show a real fairy.

Director: Charles Sturridge

Genre: Drama, Family, Fantasy, Mystery

Cast: Adam Franks, Anna Brecon, Anna Chancellor, Anthony Calf, Anton Lesser, Barbara Hicks, Benjamin Whitrow, Bill Nighy, Bill Stewart, Bob Peck, David Calder, Elizabeth Earl