John M. Hull
1935-2015
Professor of Religious Education
and Practical Theology
FILM SHORTS
Radio H.
John was not the only member of the Hull household making recordings on audio-cassette. His eldest daughter Imogen was the self-styled presenter of ‘Radio H.’, an ambitious make-believe radio show recorded on her Fisher Price tape recorder.
As a counterpoint to her father’s landmark investigation of blindness, this short film by the creators of 'Notes on Blindness' revisits Imogen’s childhood recordings as she reflects on life growing up with a blind father.
I was proud to be the 'bridge' between my father's blind and sighted lives
Notes on Blindness - short
Emmy Award-winning short, also entitled ‘Notes on Blindness’, which screened at Sundance Film Festival in 2014 and won Best Documentary at Encounters Short Film and Animation Festival.
Rainfall
This short by Peter Middleton and James Spinney explores Hull’s understanding of the world through means other than sight, touching on the notion of consciousness and how immersive elements such as rain give the world depth, detail and contour. Winner of the Best Short Documentary Award at Hot Docs, Toronto, 2013.
Blind Snow
Traffic comes to a slow halt, iridescent headlights are muted and residential city blocks go quiet as a blizzard obscures the urban landscape in Snow, an immersive short by Peter Middleton. The film captures the effect of the weather on John's daily life, transforming his surroundings beyond tactile recognition.
​
The director decided to shoot on 8mm film, “to capture something of the ethereal experience of blindness, and create a world that traverses the line between the familiar and the unreal.” Filmed in the United Kingdom during the infamous winter of December 2010 and again in February 2012, Snow was the starting point for Notes On Blindness.