PHOTOGRAPHING FAIRIES

“Astonishing . . . breathtaking . . . exquisite” were adjectives used to describe the debut novel of Cleveland author Steve Szilagyi; now Cleveland has the honor of premiering the motion picture version to American audiences. PHOTOGRAPHING FAIRIES is an offbeat confabulation of a genuine “Fairy” craze which swept Britain in the early part of this century (as did the film “Fairy Tale, A True Story” last year), when luminaries like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of “The Lost World” and Sherlock Holmes, professed that supernatural fairy-folk of myth and lore actually did exist, and could be scientifically documented via the burgeoning science of photography. Thus it is that combat photographer Charles Castle is summoned to a country estate where the fairies have allegedly consorted with two little girls. If anything is there, his lens will disclose the proof. But other forces, some less paranormal than others, impede Castle even as he believes he's piercing the veil to another reality. Fairy fever, the filmmakers suggest, was no fluke but metaphysical balm to a wounded society after the carnage of the Great War. And despite our present sophistication, the obsession continues. The fairies could return, as sure as crop circles, UFO seekers and 'psychic' phone lines.