Short Cuts

By BBC Radio 4Society & Culture Documentary

Short Cuts episodes

June 22, 2021 First Light
Josie Long presents short documentaries about illumination, the breaking of a new day, healing and hope.
Light in the Winter Forest
Written and read by Anna Selby
First published in Field Notes (Hazel Press)
Call Me Mother
Featuring Sandra Caldwell and Shon Faye
Produced by Thomas Curry
The original version of this interview was produced for the Call Me Mother podcast from the production company Novel.
The Day of Flowers
Featuring Tamika Bell, Paulette Carrington, Starr Granger, Ivy Johnson, and Yvonne Newkirk
Produced by Alex Lewis
This audio feature was based on a collaboration with artists Mark Strandquist and Courtney Bowles to create a monument for former long-term and life-sentenced women in the American prison system called “On The Day They Come Home”.
Curatorial team: Alia Cassam and Andrea Rangecroft
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
Executive Producer: Zakia Sewell
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
31 min
June 15, 2021 Land
Josie Long presents short documentaries and audio adventures about our connection to the land. The devastation of bushfires in south eastern Australia, the significance of the acorn for tribal members from the Konkow Nisenan Maidu Nations, and the storyteller Richard O’Neill on the stopping places woven into the British landscape.
Then came the birds
Featuring Alice Ansara
Produced by Sarah Mashman
Winner of the HearSay Audio Prize ‘Provoke’ Award 2021
Our rocks are alive
Featuring Alicia Potts
Singing by Chanse Adams-Zavalla
Co-produced by Michelle Macklem, Alicia Potts and Zoe Tennant
Listen to the land
Featuring Richard O’Neill
Photo credit: Tiffany Adams
Production Team: Eleanor McDowall and Alia Cassam
Produced by Andrea Rangecroft
Executive Producer: Zakia Sewell
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
29 min
June 08, 2021 Grace Notes
Audio adventures and short documentaries about music, presented by Josie Long. The soundtrack to an exploration of queerness, moments of transcendence in Indian classical music, and the folk singer Rowan Rheingans on her musical homage to a Dutch Jewish diarist.
Etty
Featuring Rowan Rheingans
Produced by Alia Cassam
Nada - On Being Sound
Featuring Pandit Uday Bhawalkar
With thanks to Romila Thapar, Arun Khopkar and the George Harrison family
Produced by HJ Radia
Chasing a Meaning
Produced by Erisa Apantaku
Curatorial team: Alia Cassam and Eleanor McDowall
Producer: Andrea Rangecroft
Executive Producer: Zakia Sewell
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
31 min
June 01, 2021 Smoke and Mirrors
Josie Long presents magical short documentaries and audio adventures about illusions. From a series of magical failures to an illusion which helped steer someone safely home.
Magic Mike
Produced by Mike Williams
Third Man Factor
Produced by Olivia Humphreys
Sand
Produced by Ariel Mejia
Curatorial Team: Alia Cassam and Andrea Rangecroft
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
Exec Producer: Zakia Sewell
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
30 min
May 25, 2021 Sensory
Josie Long presents visceral short documentaries and audio adventures about - or made to engage - the senses. From the taste of a soup nearly lost to a storm, to a collective kiss in.
Kiss
Featuring Ted Brown
Produced by Olivia Humphreys
Gow Gei
Produced by Jess Ho and Michelle Macklem
Restless Texture
Featuring Ajay Chandra and Trish Cummings
Produced by Calum Perrin
Curatorial team: Alia Cassam and Andrea Rangecroft
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
Executive Producer: Zakia Sewell
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
30 min
May 18, 2021 Silence
A hush descends as Josie Long presents short documentaries and audio adventures about silence.
From an artwork that pulls sounds outside of the range of human hearing within it - vibrations in the soil, the sound of bats in Senegal caught on a supersonic microphone - to a story about the silence which lies between generations in a family.
Winter Forest, Bala, Ontario on 2nd December 2020
Recorded by Jess Shane
Originally featured on the Field Recordings podcast
The Inaudible Spectrum
Produced by Sami El-Enany
Mokadi
Written and read by Sarah Baylis
Four Thirty-Three with Aoife
Produced by Phil Smith
Curatorial Team: Alia Cassam and Andrea Rangecroft
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
Exec Producer: Zakia Sewell
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
30 min
March 30, 2021 Unfinished
Josie Long presents short documentaries and audio adventures about looking for completion. A son who finishes his mother’s novel, a family returning to a sacred place and an exploration of a body as ‘an unfinished product’.
Return to Iraq
Featuring Zohra Aly and Amina Alimohamed
The Four Corners of the Heart
Featuring Denis Westhoff
BBC Archive of Françoise Sagan, 1989
Produced by Hannah Dean
PMHx
Written, sound designed, scored, and performed by James T. Green
A special thanks to C’ne Rohlsen, Axel Kacoutié, C.C. Paschal, Cher Vincent, Zakiya Gibbons, and Veralyn Williams for editorial and artistic guidance.
Curatorial team: Eleanor McDowall
Produced by Andrea Rangecroft
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
30 min
March 23, 2021 The Blue of Distance
Short documentaries and adventures in sound about the colour blue, presented by Josie Long. From a view of the earth from space to an affinity with the ocean.
A Blue Gem Below
Featuring Jessica Meir
Produced by Lauren Armstrong Carter
The Blue of Dover
Featuring Naji Ali
Produced by Hunter Charlton and Ben Tulloh
A version of this story first appeared on the SwimOut podcast
Almost Blue
Featuring Laura Barton
Curatorial team: Andrea Rangecroft
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
30 min
March 16, 2021 The Gallery
Short documentaries and adventures in sound about artworks and artists, presented by Josie Long. From an audio re-imagining of Bridget Riley to the work of a courtroom sketch artist.
The Mandjet
A response to Shih-Li by Bridget Riley
Produced by Sami El-Enany
Adipositivity Project
Featuring Substantia Jones
Produced by Ellie Lightfoot with sound design by Miles Mercer
Drawing From The Gallery
Featuring Priscilla Coleman
Produced by Ben Tulloh and Hunter Charlton
A Model Life
Featuring Sue Tilley
Produced by Alan Hall
This interview was originally broadcast as part of the documentary Art Values in BBC Radio 3's Between the Ears
Curatorial team: Andrea Rangecroft
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
30 min
March 09, 2021 Moonlight
Short documentaries and adventures in sound which take place under the light of the moon, presented by Josie Long. From a night swim across a freezing cold lake to the writer Courttia Newland on astral projection.
Home In Darkness
Featuring Courttia Newland
Produced by Phoebe McIndoe and Redzi Bernard
The Night Swimmer
Featuring the voice of Marilyn Korzekwa and the sounds of Lake Superior
Produced by Kalli Anderson and Kaija Siirala
Music: By Micah Smith, Jordy Walker and Off World
Re: The Moon
Written and produced by Ross Sutherland
Originally made for Imaginary Advice
Production team: Andrea Rangecroft
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
31 min