Short Cuts

By BBC Radio 4Society & Culture Documentary

Short Cuts episodes

March 29, 2022 Shorter Cuts
Josie Long presents even shorter short documentaries and audio adventures in this episode built around miniature works of audio art.
Our Shared Secrets
Written by Joe Dunthorne
Gretchen Bender - Artificial Treatment. 1988. Recorded at Studio PASS. N.Y. by B. Hutchinson.
Published on TELLUS, the Audio Cassette Magazine #21 - Audio by Visual Artists.
Donegal Revisited
Produced by Phil Smith
Redacted Mixtape
Produced by Erisa Apantaku
Doomscroll
Produced by Axel Kacoutié
A Breath of Fresh Air
Produced by Redzi Bernard and Phoebe McIndoe
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
30 min
March 22, 2022 Where The Wild Things Are
As we reach the ten year anniversary of his death, Josie Long presents short documentaries and audio adventures inspired by the worlds of Maurice Sendak.
We're In The Den
Feat. Carol Doose, Evan Roberts and Sofia Beverley Turnham
Produced by Phoebe McIndoe
In the Hard Rock Night Kitchen
Written and read by Tiffany Murray
Additional material Joan Graham
Extract from Terry Gross's interview with Maurice Sendak
Originally aired 20th September 2011 on Fresh Air from WHYY
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
29 min
March 15, 2022 Wildlife
Butterflies, rattlesnakes and feral chickens make their way through the short documentaries in Wildlife, as Josie Long presents audio adventures inspired by the natural world.
I Dream of Rattlesnakes
Produced by Sam and Todd Wemmer
Voiceover work by Annabelle Wemmer
Winner of the Third Coast International Audio Festival Shortdocs Challenge
Chicken Roundabout
Produced by Jake Lee-Savage
Additional audio of the Chicken Man supplied by Nicholas Jenkins of Sounding Board Productions from their collection Suffolk Voices
The Magnolia Exist
Featuring Naja Marie Aidt
Produced by Nanna Hauge Kristensen
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
29 min
March 08, 2022 Weather Report
Clouds gather and rain begins to fall as Josie Long presents short documentaries about the weather. From a bird that emerges as a storm rolls across the sea from a writer's living experiment to get all her news from the weather report.
Helicopter and Canoe
Produced by Kaija Siirala
Thank you to Kari Siirala, Bailey Renshaw, Maarit Siirala, Gord, Micah and Casey Smith for sharing their memories of the trip.
Days Without Rain
Written and read by Laura Barton
Storm Petrels
Featuring David Bensen and Dr. Bill Montevecchi
Produced by Rebecca Nolan
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
30 min
March 01, 2022 In Other Words
Josie Long presents audio adventures and short documentaries on the words we use to express ourselves. An artist explores new ways to talk about pain, an activist tries to live authentically in a language that feels like it wasn’t made for them, and a son connects to his parents through an Urdu love poem.
Makeshift
Featuring Laura Pejak
Produced by Nada Smiljanic and Jesse Lawson
A fragment between two
Produced by Raheel Khan
Featuring Vada/ Promise - a poem by Rukhsana Nazi - from the collection Rutth Juggeh/The Night Awakes.
With thanks to Imtiaz Ahmed Qureshi from Intesaab Kahaani.
Perceptions of Pain
Featuring Matilda Glen
Produced by Phoebe McIndoe and Redzi Bernard
Producer: Andrea Rangecroft
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
30 min
February 22, 2022 The Lovers
Returning to an old flame, a snapshot of a break-up and a cascade of crushes - Josie Long presents short romantic documentaries about falling in and out of love.
Crushing
Produced by Erisa Apantaku
We've Only Just Begun
Featuring Ben Bryant and Elizabeth Hepburn
Produced by Olivia Humphreys
Snapshot
Featuring Scottee and Brian Teeling
Produced by Scottee
Photo credit: Brian Teeling
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
29 min
February 15, 2022 The Horror!
The horror of renting, childhood pranks and being a woman online - Josie Long presents terrifying short documentaries and adventures in sound.
Fictional horror stories begin to creep into a writer's real life as she finds herself followed across the internet by an anonymous poster. Two young women discover their perfect new rental property marred by one small flaw - a man secretly living in their basement. And three brothers do battle in a home filled with tales of ghost stories and the sound of old horror movies.
Thump Thump Thump
Produced by Chris Attaway
A version of this story was first created for KCRW's 24 hour Radio Race
The Brothers and the Banshees
Produced by Geoff Bird
The Antagonist
Written and read by Nikita Gill
Voiceover work by Tony Warmsley
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
32 min
December 21, 2021 The Night Before Christmas
Josie Long presents short festive documentaries about the night before Christmas.
A joyful Christmas scene discovered on an old tape, a poet holds the beauty and melancholy of a trip home on Christmas Eve, and Albert Woodfox reflects on 40 years of enforced isolation and the illumination and comfort offered by a group of schoolchildren in Liverpool.
Forwards and Backwards
Featuring The Djursland Fiddlers recorded by Torben Harbo in the 1970s.
Produced by Rikke Houd
Christmas Eve
Written and read by Liz Berry
Produced by Alia Cassam
Albert
Featuring Albert Woodfox and David Moorhead
Produced by Sarah Cuddon
Curated by Alia Cassam and Andrea Rangecroft
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
Executive Producer: Axel Kacoutié
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
34 min
December 14, 2021 The Day After
Josie Long presents short documentaries and audio adventures on the days after a life-altering event and imagining better futures.
Three children look for the memory of their father on a baseball field, a resettled community wonders where they belong to and the writer Lola Olufemi offers experiments for imagining an alternative world.
Andromeda is a Baseball Diamond
Produced by Ariel Mejia
Resettlement
Featuring Geraldine Brown, Jeanette Brown, Linda Slade Byrne, Hana Deir and Cecil Penny. All took part in the Fisheries Household Resettlement Program in Placentia Bay.
Produced by Rebecca Nolan
Experiments for the Day Before Yesterday’s Tomorrow
Featuring Lola Olufemi
Produced by Tej Adeleye
Programme image taken by Marilyn Marsh, courtesy of the Marine History Archive.
Curated by Alia Cassam and Andrea Rangecroft
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
Executive Producer: Axel Kacoutié
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
29 min
December 07, 2021 Inside Out
Josie Long presents short documentaries and audio adventures about how our sense of self collides with the world outside.
Two Russian journalists find their lives turned inside out when they are classified as foreign agents, Keanu Reeves offers inspiration for one writer navigating his mixed-race identity, and a virtual world offers freedom and new possibilities for a man with Parkinson’s disease.
Keanu Reeves
Featuring Will Harris
Produced by Alia Cassam
Hello, You're a Foreign Agent
Featuring Sonya Groysman and Olya Churakova
Produced by Mika Golubovsky and Charles Maynes
A Second Life
Produced by Ellie Lightfoot and Gaby Caplan
Sound designed by Ellie Lightfoot
Curatorial team: Andrea Rangecroft and Eleanor McDowall
Producer: Alia Cassam
Executive Producer: Axel Kacoutié
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
29 min