Short documentaries and adventures in sound presented by Josie Long - available to download as a podcast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01mk3f8/episodes/downloads

Short Cuts

⁂ Charles Parker Prize 2015 — Silver Award ⁂

Two men come to terms with loss —  in an open, honest confrontation of memory and grief.

A programme about death as a part of living, about pain in remembering but also in forgetting. We are but passing clouds — in the vastness of the experiences we call life. 

From The Mourning Diary by Roland Barthes: 

“There is a time when death is an event, an adventure, and as such mobilizes, interests, activates, tetanizes. And then one day it is no longer an event, it is another duration, compressed, insignificant, not narrated, grim, without recourse: true mourning not susceptible to any narrative dialectic.” 

“How strange: her voice which I knew so well, and which is said to be the very texture of memory ('the dear inflection...'). I no longer hear. Like a localized deafness..”  

WITH
Stephen H.
Andrew Parr (Hypnotherapist)

ADDITIONAL MUSIC
audiography005 by sonicbrat 
audiography012 by sonicbrat 
E R 	by Sylvain Chauveau

The Trace of a Cloud in a Chest / Produced by Weidong Lin

An obscured target, a lost letter, a missed connection? This is a little audio poem for pleasure. Or something.

An Aquarian Request

Liminal prose and cryptic hotlines. Josie Long presents short documentaries and audio adventures navigating our relationship and imaginations to history collecting.

The Flight of Sankofa
Produced by Weyland Mckenzie-Witter
Featuring Lisa Anderson, the Director of the Black Cultural Archives, Dr Etienne Jospeh of Decolonising the Archive and Christopher West the inaugural curator for the Black diaspora, John Hay Library, Brown University, who recently curated an exhibition using Brown University’s Mumia Abu-Jamal collection.

Xenoglossia
Produced by Kamikaze Jones

Fish & Chips
(best listened to with headphones)
Produced by Abira Hussein and Olani Ewunnet
Recorded with Sue Bowerman
Featuring the voices of Somali Aunties from London
Special thanks to Alan Archer-Boyd, and Whose Knowledge?

First broadcast 14th November 2023, BBC Radio 4
Produced by Axel Kacoutié
Curated by Axel Kacoutié, Eleanor McDowall and Andrea Rangecroft

S36: Short Cuts: Archival Imaginings 9/9

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

First broadcast 7th May 2024, BBC Radio 4
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
Curated by Axel Kacoutié and Eleanor McDowall

S38: Short Cuts: Earth, Water, Sky 2/6

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

First broadcast 14th May 2024, BBC Radio 4
Curated by Axel Kacoutié and Eleanor McDowall
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall

S38: Short Cuts: Body Movements 3/6

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

First broadcast 21st May 2024, BBC Radio 4
Curated by Axel Kacoutié and Eleanor McDowall
Produced by Axel Kacoutié

S38: Short Cuts: Devotions 4/6

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

First broadcast 28th May 2024, BBC Radio 4
Curated by Axel Kacoutié and Eleanor McDowall
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall

S38: Short Cuts: Lost 5/6

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 Travis Van Isacker from the University of Bristol

The Quiet Violence of Dreams
Produced by Kagiso Mnisi

Fragments
Produced by Eleanor McDowall

First broadcast 4th June 2024, BBC Radio 4
Curated by Axel Kacoutié and Eleanor McDowall
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall

S38: Short Cuts: The Invisible 6/6

This was a finely crafted piece of imaginative radio, with a gentle, Zen-like contemplative quality.  Two men discuss death, and specifically the recent deaths of their mothers, in a piece that mixed amusing and sharply observed anecdotes with more mystical thought. “Very moving, slightly hypnotic, innovative and imaginative”, said one judge, while another observed that the maker “brings an oriental sensitivity and originality to the production, transforming the dialogue by subtle use of gongs and bells, drones JORDYand audio overlays.” The judges also praised “a great piece of straight interviewing given how much the man opened up.  A minor critique from the judges was that the title was rather too puzzling for its own good!

The Trace Of A Cloud In A Chest By Weidong Lin SILVER 2015

The sleeper train is a magic thing.
Here a bunk, there a bunk,
everywhere a folding table...

|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|
|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|

Sounds from a trip to Ukraine...

/// TRACKLIST \\\

Phil Smith - Overnight Train, Odessa to Lviv (2017-06-26)
Zac Gvi - The Aftermath (reprise)
Phil Smith - Distant Train Station, Morning, Lviv (2017-06-24)
Mare Nostrum - Monteverdi: Si Dolce È Il Tormento (live bootleg)
Phil Smith - Thunder, Morning, Ivano Frankivsky (2017-06-23)
Phil Smith - Overnight Train, Snoring, Lviv to Odessa (2017-06-25)
Christina Pluhar / Philippe Jaroussky - Monteverdi: Si Dolce È Il Tormento
Phil Smith - Train, Lviv to Ivano Frankivsk (2017-06-21)
Troyka - Rest
Phil Smith - Train, Lviv to Ivano Frankivsk (2017-06-21)
José James - Bird of Space
Phil Smith - Rain on the Windscreen, Ivano Frankivsk To Lviv (2017-06-23)
Phil Smith - Brücke
Phil Smith - Train Station, Odessa (2017-06-26)
Naftule's Dream - Sitting in Some Train Watching the Tuscan Landscape Go Speeding Backward
Phil Smith - Overnight Train, Odessa to Lviv (2017-06-26)

NTS: Phil's Jazz Dis-junction [2017]

Jazz Dis-junction - Sleeper Train [NTS Radio, 2017-07-16]

This is a proof-of-concept pilot episode that was procedurally generated for county 1515459035. Sheldon County is a generative podcast about life a simulated American county that inhabits your listening device. It is a project of SHELDON, a computer program written by James Ryan (www.jamesryan.world). Music by Lee Rosevere. Coming 2019.

Seed #1515459035

Episode 1: A Nothing Place

Ross Sutherland tries to expunge a bad memory by rewriting it over and over.

Imaginary Advice

47  Me Versus The Spar (Parts 1 to 7)

A young teacher's daily struggles provide the backdrop for this harrowing reflection on the Grenfell Tower tragedy. In a move from journalism to drama, George departs with the documentary-style narration of previous episodes to deliver a heart-wrenching story of resilience and neglect in London's inner city. Enlisting the help of rising star Jade Alleyne, poet Sophia Thakur as well as his own brothers, Freddie, Michael and Kenny Mpanga, George introduces a small universe of characters whose witty exchanges offer insight into their respective environments. 

Featured songs:
Chika Dole - Touch
Abi Ocia - Running

Written by George the Poet
Produced by Benbrick and George The Poet
Original score by Benbrick

#HaveYouHeardGeorgesPodcast Episode 3 A Grenfell Story

Hope Chest returns with a new essay written at SPACE on Ryder Farm's Family Residency in July 2018. A week-long artist's residency for parents and their children, SPACE on Ryder Farm affords families that ever-elusive commodity that's so difficult for many artists to find, post-parenting: time. While there, Stacia writes to Story about how the culmination of her academic and professional decisions to date have led her to face some harsh realities of late.

Ep. 6 The Art of Knowing When to Retreat

Prix Italia, Jury Special Mention. Eliot Weinberger's long and continuing prose poem draws on reports, newspapers, official utterances and eye-witness accounts to paint a terrifying picture of the war in Iraq. Sound design / mix: Jon Nicholls.

What I Heard About Iraq (full version)

It's the first time I've gone into this much depth exploring who I am in front of a mic and I hope you find a bit of yourself in my little (re)discoveries.

FULL EPISODE: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0007wvz?fbclid=IwAR2HuSUbv7eEI3GPFo6vHG687gRFW7NBggFcKRHzLAYrulDRF4Bp_B28i44

Full Episode

Short Cuts: How to Remember by Axel Kacoutié

We make documentaries and audio art for radio, podcasts and public spaces.

At the heart of what we do is a belief in the imaginative possibilities of radio. Sounds that can reconfigure the world around you, move you through inner landscapes, sink into your dreams.

We are an intentionally small company that considers carefully the creative, social and political aspects of the work we put out into the world.

Falling Tree has two full-time Directors – Eleanor McDowall and Alan Hall – and we work with freelancers across our projects, including the core Short Cuts production team of Alia Cassam, Axel Kacoutié and Andrea Rangecroft.

We are one of the founding signatories of the Equality in Audio pact. 

You can listen to hundreds of our documentaries in the free, online Falling Tree archive.

S36: Short Cuts: Archival Imaginings 9/9

Falling Tree Productions

Related tracks