Short Cuts

By BBC Radio 4Society & Culture Documentary

Short Cuts episodes

August 27, 2024 Constellation
Star maps, messages from Earth to the moon and reaching out across distance as Josie Long presents short documentaries about constellations.
Star Map
Featuring Ferdinand Hauge Leth
Music by Kirstine Lindemann
Captured by Trawl Hz
Produced by Nanna Hauge Kristensen
News to the Moon and Back
Recordings courtesy of the NASA archive
Produced by Mika Golubovsky
The Complaints Department
Featuring Evan Gregg and letters from www.dearmisterward.com
Produced by Inge Oosterhoff
Curated by Axel Kacoutié, Eleanor McDowall and Andrea Rangecroft
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
30 min
August 20, 2024 In Colour
A black and white film transformed, searching the sunset for the green flash and a reimagining of red. Josie Long presents a kaleidoscopic collection of short documentaries.
Autism Plays Itself
Adapted for radio by Jodie Taylor and Janet Harbord
Based on the short film directed by Janet Harbord, produced by Whalebone Films and sound designed by Action Pyramid
Green Flash
Written by Joe Dunthorne
Red of Visibility
Produced by Phoebe McIndoe
With thanks to THE ECCO founded by Jasmin Bauomy, where a version of this documentary was first created
Curated by Axel Kacoutié, Eleanor McDowall and Andrea Rangecroft
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
29 min
June 04, 2024 The Invisible
Josie Long presents short documentaries and audio adventures which emerge from dreams, hidden places and the afterlife.
The Dreams (Extract)
From Inventions for Radio by Barry Bermange and Delia Derbyshire
Originally broadcast on the BBC in 1964
Zero Fixation Points
Produced by Nada Smiljanic
Location production by Avi Varma
Archive courtesy of Rowan Farrell
Featuring Professor Bridget Anderson and Dr Travis Van Isacker from the University of Bristol
The Quiet Violence of Dreams
Produced by Kagiso Mnisi
Fragments
Produced by Eleanor McDowall
Curated by Axel Kacoutié and Eleanor McDowall
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
29 min
May 28, 2024 Lost
Evaporating answers, mysterious music and disappearing dialects - Josie Long presents short documentaries about things in danger of becoming lost.
Pot-8-Toes
Featuring Billy Butler and Wally Scott
Originally broadcast in Hold Your Plums on Radio Merseyside
A Corner Seat in a Smoker, Facing the Engine
Produced by Robin the Fog
Echoes of Cockney
Produced by James Trice
Panchiko
Produced by Tom Whalley
Curated by Axel Kacoutié and Eleanor McDowall
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
30 min
May 21, 2024 Devotions
Life and love. Josie Long presents short documentaries and audio adventures exploring the language of care.
Life or Death
By Marc Kalani
Featuring Cessie Alfonso and Carmeta Albarus author of The Making of Lee Boyd Malvo: The D.C. Sniper.
Buzz
By Luca Evans (they/them)
Featuring Joules Huang Duze (they/them) and Smokey Black (he/they)
Additional recording by Aisha Lomax (she/her).
Joules is a part-time organiser with Jews for Racial and Economic Justice and The LUNAR Collective, a volunteer with the Black Trans Liberation Kitchen, and a community educator for the Early Relationship Abuse Prevention Program.
Smokey is a barber at Mutiny in Brooklyn NY. @Smokey.Black
Please listen with headphones.
Patient as the Horizon
By Tej Adeleye
Sarah Long from London Equine Therapy and Astrologer, Psychic Medium and Animal Communicator, Jessica Lanyadoo
Curated by Axel Kacoutié and Eleanor McDowall
Produced by Axel Kacoutié
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
29 min
May 14, 2024 Body Movements
In water, on wheels or explained over the phone - Josie Long presents short documentaries about moving our bodies.
Field Notes
Featuring Hannah Kezema
Produced by Jess Shane and Kristine White
Instructions for Returning to My Body
Gamelan music courtesy of Nusantara
Produced by Kia Miakka Natisse
The Pink Flamingo
Featuring Peter Prijdekker
Sound Recording by Edd Kentish
Produced by Hunter Charlton and Vicki Carter
Curated by Axel Kacoutié and Eleanor McDowall
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
30 min
May 07, 2024 Earth, Water, Sky
Two men on different continents share a love of butterflies, a swimming instructor seeks solace in the water and we dive inside an inner landscape. Josie Long presents short documentaries and audio adventures that emerge from the earth, water and sky.
Psalm
Featuring Emil Blicher Bjerregaard and Mudar Salimeh
Inspired by the poem Psalm written by Wisława Szymborska
Music by Simon don Eriksen and Gregor Quendel
Mix by Lærke Soedring Nielsen
Produced by Nanna Hauge Kristensen
My Body is of Earth
Created by Zara Zimbardo and Lily Sloane
With editorial support from Keisha "TK" Dutes and sound consultation from Adriene Lilly
Finding Freedom in the Water: Gaza’s Swimming Teacher
A version of this story first aired on BBC World Service's Outlook in March 2023 ('My Life in Seven Swimming Pools') and in an updated version in April 2024 ('Finding Freedom in the Water: Gaza's Swimming Teacher) presented by Jo Fidgen
Sound design by Joel Cox
Interpreter Youssef Taha
Producer Louise Morris
Curated by Axel Kacoutié and Eleanor McDowall
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
30 min
April 30, 2024 A Piano
A grand piano slowly climbs the stairs in Glasgow, a man in Brighton keeps finding his upright pianos going missing, a piano decays slowly in the woods while a grandson finds himself thrust into the role of a ship's pianist. Josie Long presents short documentaries and audio adventures with a piano at their heart.
Pianos Aren't His Forte
Featuring Mark Campbell
Produced by Phil Smith
Including piano performances from Mark Campbell and Songs Without Words composed by Felix Mendelssohn and performed by Vassily Primakov from the Free Music Archive
Piano in the Woods
Written and produced by Ross Sutherland
Featuring performances from the project Piano in the Woods by the improviser, artist and curator Sam Bailey. You can learn more about the project at pianointhewoods.com
Two, Three, Hup
Produced by Steve Urquhart
Featuring piano performances by Steve Urquhart
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
Curated by Axel Kacoutié and Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
30 min
February 13, 2024 Hereafter
Chrononormativity, duppies and post-colonial thought. Josie Long presents short documentaries and audio adventures exploring beyond the past, present and futures.
Language in the Land of Duppies: Exploring the origins of Jamaican folklore as a gateway to understanding the legacy of slavery on the island.
Produced by Laura Carty
Special thanks to Alexander Powell, Carmen Johnson, Natalia Downer, Kandice Thompson and Jean Smart.
All my friends are turning into Stars
Written and performed by David Amber Devereux
With Dr Matthew Temple, Research Fellow,
Universidad Diego Portales
Additional voices by Lou Sutcliffe and Alessa Catterall
Featuring quotes from De Profundus by Oscar Wilde, Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, and In A Queer Time And Place by Jack Halberstam
Interjections on the future: There is not currently any obvious path to reconstructing a popular faith in political, economic and even some social institutions but while it might not always feel like it today, the unwinding of colonial modernity is underway and accelerating.
Produced by composer and researcher, Sara Rahman.
Featuring psychiatrist Isabel Valli and writers and artists Fer Boyd and Maedeline Stack.
Curated by Axel Kacoutié, Eleanor McDowall and Andrea Rangecroft
Produced by Axel Kacoutié
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
29 min
February 06, 2024 The Net
Word spirits, back rooms and a reply all-pocalypse - Josie Long presents short documentaries that emerge from the internet.
Word Spirits
With thanks to Caroline Hesse, Donovan McGrath, Mary Dolejsi, Nicole Reinsch, Nalini Kumari, Zen Priest & Buddhist Scholar John Stevens (for permission to include his Classical Aikido Kototama Chant), and Critical Sound Explorer & Artist Matt Parker (for permission to include excerpts from The People's Cloud / Field Recordings of Internet Data Centres): https://www.earthkeptwarm.com
Additional mixing by Maitreya
Produced by HJ Radia
The Back Rooms
Produced by Mae-Li Evans
The Bello Tolls for Thee
Produced by Nadia Mehdi
Curated by Axel Kacoutié, Eleanor McDowall and Andrea Rangecroft
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
30 min