
Short Cuts
Short documentaries and adventures in sound presented by Josie Long.
Latest episodes

Jan 30, 2024 • 29min
Roots
Josie Long presents short documentaries that go back to the start. The musician Lucinda Chua traces the journey of a rose, a connection is forged between a young woman now and a trapeze artist on New Year's Eve 1942, and a touching personal archive illuminates the journey of a word. Muscles and Mysteries
Produced by Teresa KristofferssonFirst Words
Produced by Kalli Anderson
Featuring the voices of Kalli's parents, Kathy Hunt and Lance Anderson, as well as Kalli's husband, Zack Finkelstein, and their two children, aged 12 and 8. Reclaiming The Rose
Produced, narrated and music by Lucinda Chua
Chinese Narration by XiaoQiao
Poetry in English and Chinese by He Sun Curated by Axel Kacoutié, Eleanor McDowall and Andrea Rangecroft
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

Jan 23, 2024 • 29min
In Dreams
A couple looks for each other in their dreams, a research facility delves into the otherworldly, and a philosopher imagines a flow of time set to the rhythm of our rivers - Josie Long presents short documentaries that emerge from the dreams of others.River Time
Featuring Jonathon Keats
Produced by Nadia MehdiHaunted
Featuring Linda Fleishman
Produced by Elizabeth FriendDarling, Are You Dreaming?
Featuring Jules and Vital
Produced by Eloise StevensCurated by Axel Kacoutié, Eleanor McDowall and Andrea Rangecroft
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

Jan 16, 2024 • 29min
Instructions
A pamphlet from the 1980s illuminates the world we live in now, a musical invitation for your domestic space, and some dazzling canine choreography for your ears. Josie Long presents short documentaries based around instructions.How to Listen... including How Not To, How You Ought To, and How You Won't (Extract)
Written by Stephen Potter and Joyce Grenfell
Produced by Stephen Potter
Originally broadcast on BBC Third Programme in 1946Hot Dogs!
Presented by Alan Smith
Produced by Steve Urquhart
Originally broadcast on Alan Smith's Mid Morning Show, BBC Radio Cumbria in 1999Hell Rubs and Sobs
Produced by Sami El-EnanyHow To Look 30 When You're 30
Produced by Jesse LawsonCurated by Axel Kacoutié, Eleanor McDowall and Andrea Rangecroft
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

Jan 9, 2024 • 30min
Minis
The moment of time before a camera shutter closes, a symphony of ums reveals a partner's untruths, and two women linked by a phantom thread reflect on their changing bodies. Josie Long presents even shorter short documentaries.Is This An Image?
Produced by Jon TjhiaDeath from Above
Written and read by Joe DunthorneBody of Work
Featuring the voices of writer Marleen Kruithof and cinematographer Babette Mangolte
Music by Nicola Mecca
Produced by Georgia WalkerWhat's in an Um?
Produced by Talia AugustidisCharon
Composed, produced and performed by Jamie PayneCurated by Axel Kacoutié, Eleanor McDowall and Andrea Rangecroft
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

Nov 14, 2023 • 29min
Archival Imaginings
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 JonesFish & 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?Produced by Axel Kacoutié
Curated by Axel Kacoutié, Eleanor McDowall and Andrea Rangecroft
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

Nov 7, 2023 • 29min
Heart's Desire
Getting lost in childhood longings, the search for the home we carry inside ourselves and exploring true sexual desire in a world shaped by media and societal pressures. Josie Long presents short documentaries and audio adventures that explore our desires.American Glove Cafe
Featuring Conor O’Toole and Fán
Written and produced by Conor O’TooleAre We There Yet?
Featuring Angeliki Androutsopoulos, Garth Davis, Amira and Danita, plus recordings by Mary Hufford for The Library of Congress.
Produced by Jaye Kranz
Original commissioned and produced for Constellations podcastDesire Shapes
Featuring Poppy
Produced by Phoebe McIndoeProduced by Andrea Rangecroft
Curated by Axel Kacoutié, Eleanor McDowall and Andrea Rangecroft
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

Oct 31, 2023 • 29min
Creature Features
From a creature that leaps in the darkness of your basement to a fish that drains the life force of its partner - Josie Long presents creature features and creepy crawly short documentaries for Halloween.In Spirit
Featuring James Maclaine, Senior Curator of Fish, at the Natural History Museum, London
Produced and sound designed by Meera KumarThe Seventh Sense
Thanks to Emma Rathbone, Gaye Williams, Ben Pagac, Mary Jane Epps, and everybody who shared a camel cricket story
Music by Cue Shop, Big Lazy, and Blue Dot Sessions
Produced by Jesse DukesFor the Pigeons
Produced by John Luke RobertsSeries Producer: Eleanor McDowall
Curated by Axel Kacoutié, Eleanor McDowall and Andrea Rangecroft
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

Oct 24, 2023 • 30min
The Soil
A remnant from the Cold War becomes an accidental haven for wildlife, a poet and a tree surgeon search for the roots of a metaphor, and a musician searches for an anchor to home. Josie Long presents short documentaries and audio adventures about the ground beneath your feet.Always Moving
Cello performed by Joe Reynolds
Engineered by Yuri Shibuichi
Composed and produced by Tendertwin (Bilge Nur Yilmaz)Memorial Landscape
Featuring Kai Frobel
Translator Jana Kosok
Produced by Tom PhillipsPoet / Tree
A conversation between Matthew Reid and Raymond AntrobusSeries Producer: Eleanor McDowall
Curated by Axel Kacoutié, Eleanor McDowall and Andrea Rangecroft
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

Oct 17, 2023 • 29min
Into the World
Visions and out of body experiences during birth and a name that stretches back through time - Josie Long presents short documentaries and audio adventures about the experience of coming into the world.Transition
Produced by Kalli Anderson and apè Aliermo
Featuring excerpts from SIMULA, an 8.2-channel sound installation by apè Aliermo and mixed and mastered by Rose Bolton.
This composition includes sound recorded during three anonymous births and electromagnetic sound recorded in a hospital during one of the births.
The voices you hear are Redzi Bernard, Becky Kenna, Amy Macfarlane and Andrea Gummo.Hope is the thing with feathers
Produced by Nanna Hauge Kristensen
Originally broadcast, in a different version, on BBC Radio 3's Between the EarsLoweza Ayazi
Featuring Nomkhubulwane Mnisi
Produced by Kagiso Mnisi Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
Curated by Axel Kacoutié, Eleanor McDowall and Andrea Rangecroft
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

Oct 10, 2023 • 30min
Meeting Myself Coming Back
Jennifer Mills, an artist who publishes a one-page newspaper about herself, and Jacob Kelly discuss personal curation through diaries and social media. They explore the beauty of life, poetry, music, and the impact of migration. Childhood experiences, mental health struggles, and the importance of compassion are also explored.
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