Short Cuts

By BBC Radio 4Society & Culture Documentary

Short Cuts episodes

May 26, 2020 Dreaming
Josie Long presents short documentaries and adventures in sound about dreaming and the imagination.
Dive into an astronaut's dreamscape, take an audio drawing lesson with Ebony Flowers and listen to Ursula Le Guin explore world-building.
The Astronaut's Dream
Feat. Helen Sharman
Produced by Edward Prosser
Music by Kevin MacLeod
Originally created for the Royal Institution
Self Portrait in Outer Space
Feat. Ebony Flowers
Produced by Jess Shane
Music by Chad Crouch and Abby Swidler
Ursula Le Guin
Interviewed on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour
Originally broadcast in 1990
Evin and Ian
Produced by Georgia Moodie
Production Team: Andrea Rangecroft and Alia Cassam
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in May 2020.
30 min
May 19, 2020 The Sea, The Sea
Josie Long presents short documentaries and audio adventures about the sea.
The sounds of the sea, whispers into a wind phone and the dark, silent nights in Lyø, Denmark; a writer reflects on women dreaming of diving beneath the surface of the water; an Hawaiian surfer describes the exhilaration of riding through the barrel of a wave and stories from cliff-edge towns in the UK as the water comes ever-closer.
The Wave
Featuring Clyde Aikau
Music by Cabinet of Living Cinema
Produced by Sarah Cuddon
The Widow of the Sea
Produced by Nanna Hauge Kristensen
Dreaming
Featuring Margaret Drabble
Originally recorded by Sarah Cuddon for The Diving Venus
The View from the Edge
Featuring Darcy Bayless and Juliet Blaxland who has written a book about her experiences in a cliff edge house called The Easternmost House.
Produced by Chloe White and Jodie Taylor
Production Team: Andrea Rangecroft and Alia Cassam
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in 2020.
30 min
March 31, 2020 Storytellers
Short documentaries about telling stories with Josie Long.
A subject feedbacks back to her documentarian, a voicemail tells a story and the writer Ross Sutherland wonders how storytelling advice could save a relationship in trouble.
Nicola Talkback
Produced by Jess Shane
Music by Abby Swidler
Easiness
Featuring Ben Seretan
Produced by Alex Lewis
Originally produced for Audio Playground
Marriage Story
Featuring Ross Sutherland and Peter Saddington
Production Team: Eleanor McDowall and Alia Cassam
Produced by Andrea Rangecroft
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in March 2020.
30 min
March 31, 2020 Habitat
Growing up in a changing landscape, communicating disaster through a language barrier, a sonic illustration of the world’s dwindling animal populations and finding hope outside our windows. Josie Long presents short documentaries on the climate crisis.
Smoke Signals
Produced by Natalie Kestecher
Hearing Extinction
Produced by Mona Chalabi and Emmy the Great
Mother Earth
Produced by Alia Cassam
Terrace, Rome, Italy during the lockdown
Produced by Daria Corrias
Originally recorded for the Field Recordings podcast
Production Team: Eleanor McDowall and Alia Cassam
Produced by Andrea Rangecroft
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in March 2020.
31 min
March 17, 2020 Encounters With Old Texts
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, a cryptic crossword, personal ads and the work of Dylan Thomas inspire new short documentaries and adventures in sound presented by Josie Long.
Poem for October
Featuring Terry Jones
Produced by Sarah Cuddon
Slow Burn Seeking
Featuring Casey Orozco-Poore
Produced by Ariana Martinez
Maslow
Produced by James T. Green
Relics
Featuring John-Luke Roberts
Production Team: Andrea Rangecroft and Alia Cassam
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in March 2020.
31 min
March 10, 2020 Call Me
Wrong numbers that make the right connections and the comforting voices of strangers - Josie Long presents short documentaries and adventures in sound about phones.
Monitoring
Produced by Mark Vernon
The Phoneline
Made by Jodie Taylor, producer at Fat Rat Films
This documentary featured recreated calls, all calls to NACOA’s helpline remain absolutely confidential.
Please Hold
Produced by James T. Green
Originally made for the podcast u+1f60c
A 6 instead of a 9
Featuring Kasey Bergh and Henry Glendening
Produced by Claire Crofton
Production Team: Andrea Rangecroft and Alia Cassam
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in March 2020.
30 min
March 03, 2020 Tarot
Josie Long presents short documentaries and adventures in sound inspired by the tarot deck.
From an imagined reading with Madame Cinnamon Black in New Orleans to a card that helps two sisters understand each other.
Sylvia Plath and the Tarot Pack
Featuring David Trinidad and Rebecca Tamás
Produced by Alia Cassam
Shadow Work
Produced by Ari Mejia
Three Cards
Featuring Madame Cinnamon Black
Produced by Cristal Duhaime
Originally recorded for 48 Hour Party People, a travel podcast hosted by Brendan Francis Newnam
Thanks to Mira Burt-Wintonick, Brendan Francis Newnam, Jackson Musker, Danielle Henderson and the Historic Voodoo Museum
Production Team: Andrea Rangecroft and Alia Cassam
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in March 2020.
30 min
February 25, 2020 Dancing on the Radio
Josie Long presents toe-tapping, choreographed short documentaries offering three adventures in sound about dancing.
From falling in love with movement - to the art of staying still.
Vogue
Featuring Darren Suarez
Produced by Andrea Rangecroft
Screen Test
Featuring Lucinda Childs
Produced by Hannah Dean
With music by Kayla Painter
Includes audio from Andy Warhol exhibition at Tate Modern
It's a Commitment (Extract)
Originally made for the Smash/Cut podcast
Featuring Dr Brenda Dixon Gottschild and Dr Halifu Osumare
Produced by Xander Adams and Margaret Laurena Kemp
Music Credits: Revolution Void, Lloyd Rodgers, Kitchen Romance, and Xander Adams
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in February 2020.
30 min
February 18, 2020 Endurance
Josie Long presents short documentaries and adventures in sound about feats of endurance.
A marathon runner needs to outrun a race official who wants her off the track, a woman exhausts herself while running through the personal ads and a writer living in the shadow of a nuclear reactor finds unlikely companionship with cockroaches.
Endurance
Featuring Laura Barton
Mr Right
Produced by Inge Hoonte
Originally made for Deep Wireless 4
Runner 261
Featuring Kathrine Switzer
Produced by Andrea Rangecroft
Isn't it lovely?
Produced by Phoebe Wang
First commissioned as a part of the Constellations podcast's exhibition Resonant Bodies and then released in Constellations
This piece was supported in part by the Wassaic Artist Residency Program.
Kathrine Switzer photo credit - Boston Herald
Production Team: Andrea Rangecroft and Alia Cassam
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in February 2020.
31 min
December 24, 2019 Noel
A 6 year old takes a rather un-childlike view on the realities of Santa Claus, Icelandic Christmas characters creep out of the darkness, Scottee tells the story of a loving gift that travelled across countries and generations and the festive season bursts into song. Josie Long presents short documentaries and adventures in sound (for grown-ups) on Christmas Eve.
I Don't Know
Produced by Andy Mills with the musicians Matt and Jacob Boll, Corey and Cobey Bienert and Enoch Kim.
Out of the Dark
Featuring Rósa Thorsteinsdottir and Eva Maria Jónssdottir from The Arni Magnussen Institute
Produced by Rikke Houd
Nativity
Featuring Scottee
Produced by Alia Cassam
The Night Before the Night Before Christmas (Reprise)
Featuring Seymour and Stuart Sarnoff
Produced by Alex Lewis
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
33 min