Short Cuts

By BBC Radio 4Society & Culture Documentary

Short Cuts episodes

March 02, 2021 Motherhood
Josie Long presents short documentaries and adventures in sound about mothers and motherhood.
We hear a story of a recurrent dream about searching for an absent mother, Heather O'Neill delves into the ways her mother and her own experience of motherhood have threaded through her life, and the writer Nikesh Shukla reflects on ways to remember a mother you've lost.
Fragments Of My Mother
Written and read by Nikesh Shukla
Motherhood, a short story
Featuring Heather O'Neill
Produced by Sarah Cuddon
Call Me Mother
Featuring Raven Mandella
Produced by Suzie McCarthy
Mother, Unknown
Produced by Nanna Hauge Kristensen
Production team: Andrea Rangecroft
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
31 min
February 23, 2021 Correspondents
Josie Long presents short documentaries and audio adventures about letter writing - Mother’s Day cards travelling thousands of miles home, love letters that are cherished, hidden and lost, and a one-way correspondence bringing comfort during chemotherapy.
Letters to My Dear Lovers
Produced by Sofia Saldanha
You Go First
Featuring Helene Ishikawa
Produced by Rachel Ishikawa
Ursula Bloom speaking to Jack Singleton
Home This Afternoon, BBC Radio, 1965
From Me To You
Featuring Alison Hitchcock and Brian Greenley
Produced by Helen Zaltzman
First broadcast in The Allusionist podcast episode ‘66. Open Me part 1’
frommetoyouletters.co.uk
Production Team: Eleanor McDowall
Produced by Andrea Rangecroft
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
29 min
February 16, 2021 Acts of Love
Josie Long presents short documentaries and audio adventures that centre around acts of love - from the story of Ruth Coker Burks, who became a loving caretaker for hundreds of men during the AIDS epidemic, to the poet Nikita Gill's look at a love which ended in its beginning.
Jewels from the Sun
Written and read by Nikita Gill
The Last Act
Featuring Anita Barrows
Produced by Phil Smith
This interview first appeared in the documentary To Bear Witness on BBC Radio 3 in Between the Ears.
Comet Dust
Featuring Ruth Coker Burks
Produced by Jodie Taylor and Chloe White
Production team: Andrea Rangecroft
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
31 min
December 22, 2020 A Merry Little Christmas
Cold-calling Santa Claus, family gatherings and a solo tradition for the 25th December - Josie Long presents festive short documentaries.
Santa Clauses
Produced by Noam Osband
Merry Christmas Grandad
Featuring Mark Thomas
Produced by Sarah Cuddon
Christmas at the Movies
Featuring Hanif Abdurraqib
Production team: Andrea Rangecroft
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in December 2020.
33 min
December 15, 2020 The Caretakers
Josie Long presents short documentaries and audio adventures on the caretakers who help our worlds to run and re-imagining the places we love.
The Reason That I'm Still Here
Featuring Usnia Granger
Produced by Michael Segalov
Caretaker
Featuring Scottee and his mum Sarah
The Dustbin Man Cometh
Produced by Ed Prosser
From Surface to Core
Feat. Miriam González
Produced by Ariana Martinez
Production team: Andrea Rangecroft
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
31 min
December 08, 2020 Silent Symphonies
Josie Long presents short documentaries and audio adventures about listening to what lies beneath the surface. Uncovering one woman’s secret musical rebellion, rescuing musical scores written by prisoners in concentration camps and mapping our differing experiences in a sonic poem by the audio artist Axel Kacoutié.
A Unique Literature
Featuring Francesco Lotoro
Produced by Andrea Rangecroft
Mirry
Featuring Tom Fraser, Margaret Drage and Geoffrey Drage
Co-produced by Kirsteen McNish and Eleanor McDowall
Music by Mirabel Lomer, Tom Fraser and Simon Tong
A Sound Poem
First broadcast in the Constellations podcast episode 'Inner Geographies'
Produced by Axel Kacoutié
Production Team: Eleanor McDowall
Produced by Andrea Rangecroft
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
30 min
December 01, 2020 Readers
Short documentaries and audio adventures about the letters and books which reach unexpected readers - with Josie Long.
From the woman who has collected 8000 strangers' diaries to the letter treasured by a political prisoner who'd never met its senders.
The Mother
Featuring Cedric Jones, Sonia Sanchez and Haki Madhubuti
Produced by Sarah Cuddon
Revolutionary Greetings
Featuring Lee Mostert, Freda Mostert, Estelle Leonard and Chris Giffard
Produced by Neroli Price with additional reporting by Rasmus Bitsch
Sally's Diaries
Featuring Sally MacNamara Ivey
Produced by Olivia Humphreys
Production team: Andrea Rangecroft
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
30 min
November 24, 2020 Miniatures
Josie Long presents a selection of miniature documentaries and tiny audio adventures. A 3-minute elevator journey with the poet Paul Farley, a snappy surrealist game and a journey into the world of the planet’s tiniest inhabitants.
Mini Break
Produced by Andrea Rangecroft
The Pitch
Written by Paul Farley
Produced by Geoff Bird
Five-Seven-Five
Produced by Sami El-Enany and Axel Kacoutié
The Shape of You in Her
Produced by Jonathan Williams
Created for audioplayground.xyz
Time is Happening
Produced by Annina Lehman
The Quiet
Featuring Aisling Gallagher
Produced by Calum Perrin
An extract from Conversations Future Selves, a collaborative project commissioned by YLab and HARP
An Acoustic Acclamation to Things Tiny
Produced by Action Pyramid
A Hymn to Cardea
Featuring Stephen Jenkinson
Produced by Phil Smith
Production Team: Eleanor McDowall
Produced by Andrea Rangecroft
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
29 min
November 17, 2020 The Interpreter
From the act of translating dance into words to finding understanding between two divorced parents - Josie Long presents stories of interpretation.
What Is This Shape?
Producer: Jess Shane
Music: Daniel Pencer
Featuring. iele paloumpis, Seta Morton, Alejandra Ospina and Krishna Washburn
This research featured in this doc was catalyzed by the evening-length dance performance of In place of catastrophe, a clear night sky, which was set to premiere at Danspace Project in May 2020, but has been postponed due to COVID-19. It was directed by iele paloumpis in collaboration with Marielys Burgos-Meléndez, Seta Morton, Alejandra Ospina, Monica Rodriguez, Ogemdi Ude, Krishna Washburn, Adrien Weibgen and Marýa Wethers. For more information, please visit inplaceofcatastrophe.com
The project featured in this doc was made possible, in part, by the Danspace Project Commissioning Initiative and Production Residency Program funded by the Lambent Foundation Fund of the Tides Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; with additional support through a 2019 Movement Research Residency, funded by the Scherman Foundation’s Katharine S. and Axel G. Rosin Fund; and is sponsored, in part, by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC); as well as Dance/NYC's Disability. Dance. Artistry. Dance and Social Justice Fellowship Program, made possible by the generous support of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs CreateNYC Disability Forward Fund and the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation, and with additional support from the New York Community Trust. Creative developmental residencies at The Chocolate Factory Theater, Queer|Art Pride at Abrons Arts Center, AUNTS Residency at Mount Tremper Arts, and the Zil Culture Center in Moscow through the GPS/Global Practice Sharing program of Movement Research with funding from the Trust for Mutual Understanding, have also contributed to this ongoing research.
Poem With Captions
By Raymond Antrobus
A Birthday Card
Producer: Nanna Hauge Kristensen
Sound Design: Astrid Hald
I'm So Sorry
Producer: Eleanor McDowall
Music: Jeremy Warmsley
Created for audioplayground.xyz
Production Team: Andrea Rangecroft
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
29 min
September 22, 2020 Hauntings
Josie Long presents short documentaries and adventures in sound about absences which leave a mark. An unexpected visitor, a haunted literature and a grandson searches for the truth about a grandmother he never knew.
Ghosts
Featuring Mariana Enríquez
Unexpected Guests (Extract)
Produced by Phoebe Judge, Lauren Spohrer, and Nadia Wilson
Originally made for the podcast Criminal
Alicia
Written and produced by Sayre Quevedo, with editing by Cristal Duhaime, Mira Burt-Wintonick and Sarah Geis, mixed by Mira Burt-Wintonick
Originally made for the podcast Love Me
Beloved
Featuring Toni Morrison
Produced by Shanida Scotland
Production Team: Andrea Rangecroft and Alia Cassam
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
30 min