Photograph of Jesus - Laurie Hill, 2008

Looking for photographs of Jesus, yetis and Hitler in 1948? Help is at hand with this documentary-fantasy based on true stories of requests for impossible images. Real-life archives become the stage where fact and fiction collide, belief runs amok and unruly images have a life of their own.


Photograph of Jesus by Laurie Hill in association with the Getty Images Short & Sweet Film Challenge from Hulton Archive on Vimeo.

Short and Sweet has teamed up with Getty Images to launch a film challenge with a twist.
Getty Images approached producer Basil Stephens and Short and Sweet founder Julia Stephenson with the idea of setting up a film competition which would make use of images in Getty's Hulton Archive. Stephenson drew from her in-depth knowledge of the short film arena to suggest a selection of talented filmmakers.
After picking out ten up-and-coming directors, she gave them the opportunity to pitch. Four of the filmmakers made it on to the shortlist and got the chance to realise their ideas. They were given three months to create their films.
The challenges aim was to highlight the breadth and depth of content available at the Hulton Archive, which offers a unique resource to filmmakers and creatives alike. But rather than set a rigid brief, the challenge offered key words and phrases as prompters to guide the filmmakers creativity. Examples of these prompters included discover our past, images that shape our future, still & moving imagery, ordinary people, ordinary things and extraordinary people, extraordinary things.

Director: Laurie HILL
7 min. 2008
Animation: Laurie Hill
Music: Toolshed Music
Editor: Laurie Hill
Narrated by: Matthew Butson