Short Cuts

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 LawsonA 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 BernardProducer: Andrea Rangecroft A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

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 ApantakuWe've Only Just Begun Featuring Ben Bryant and Elizabeth Hepburn Produced by Olivia HumphreysSnapshot Featuring Scottee and Brian Teeling Produced by ScotteePhoto credit: Brian Teeling Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

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 RaceThe Brothers and the Banshees Produced by Geoff BirdThe Antagonist Written and read by Nikita Gill Voiceover work by Tony Warmsley Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

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 HoudChristmas Eve Written and read by Liz Berry Produced by Alia CassamAlbert Featuring Albert Woodfox and David Moorhead Produced by Sarah CuddonCurated by Alia Cassam and Andrea Rangecroft Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall Executive Producer: Axel Kacoutié A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

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 MejiaResettlement 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 NolanExperiments for the Day Before Yesterday’s Tomorrow Featuring Lola Olufemi Produced by Tej AdeleyeProgramme 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

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 CassamHello, You're a Foreign Agent Featuring Sonya Groysman and Olya Churakova Produced by Mika Golubovsky and Charles MaynesA Second Life Produced by Ellie Lightfoot and Gaby Caplan Sound designed by Ellie LightfootCuratorial team: Andrea Rangecroft and Eleanor McDowall Producer: Alia Cassam Executive Producer: Axel Kacoutié A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

Josie Long presents audio adventures and short documentaries about what’s gone before. A daughter’s decades-long search for her father who went missing as a political prisoner in South Africa, a poem by the German-American poet Lisel Mueller listing the parts that make up our memories, and the writer and comedian Heidi O’Loughlin untangles the stories woven into and around her Polynesian identity. Nombulelo Booi Featuring Nombulelo Booi and Madeleine Fullard, with translation by Thenjiwe Kona. Produced by Catherine Boulle and Bongani Kona This piece is part of a larger, ongoing documentary project by Catherine and Bongani titled Time, Paper, Bone about the work of the Missing Persons Task Team, and the exhumation of James Booi’s remains. The project won the 2021 Whickers Radio and Audio Funding Award.Necessities Written by Lisel Mueller Read by Lisel Mueller and Studs Terkel and from a conversation originally broadcast in January 1987. Courtesy of the Studs Terkel Radio ArchiveFrom the South Pacific Written and read by Heidi O’LoughlinCuratorial team: Alia Cassam and Eleanor McDowall Producer: Andrea Rangecroft Executive Producer: Axel Kacoutié A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

A writer wonders if she has been cursed by the comedian Stewart Lee, a man builds his home beside an active volcano, and the story of a clothes peg and it's strange, romantic power. Josie Long presents short documentaries and audio adventures about luck, superstition and surrendering to chaos.Sandwiches Featuring Laura Barton and Stewart LeeKilauea Featuring Gary Sleik Produced by Thomas PhillipsLucky 7 Featuring Richard O'NeillPhoto credit: Gary Sleik ("Photo taken February 11, 2017 at 7: 48 a.m. about 7 km west of my home, on my morning walk to see where the lava was flowing on the surface. I was able to see these flows from my bed at night, more comfortable for me than most people I'm sure.")Curated by Alia Cassam and Andrea Rangecroft Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall Executive Producer: Axel Kacoutié A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

Josie Long presents short documentaries and audio adventures on the colour red. A redhead in a crowd of redheads, exploring notes of red on the piano, and a nation’s relationship with the colour red. Roodharigendag (Redhead days) Featuring Shelby Vittek Produced by Gaby Caplan and Ellie LightfootThe Little Red Piano Featuring Duncan Honeybourne Produced by Flora ZajicekOur home on native land Produced by Kalli Anderson The painting referred to in this feature is The Scream by Cree artist Kent Monkman. This piece includes short excerpts from news reports from the CBC, APTN News, CityNews, CTV, CP24, Global News and 680 News. It also includes the voices of Bob Paulson, Chief Allan Adam, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Cindy Blackstock. The music is Land Back by The Halluci Nation.Photo credit: Birgitta HoneybourneCurated by Alia Cassam and Eleanor McDowall Produced by Andrea Rangecroft Executive Producer: Axel Kacoutié A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

Josie Long presents short documentaries and adventures in sound about guiding lights and those who have gone before - from finding connection with someone whose last dance was over a century ago to one of the last people in the UK to have performed an old ritual.Breath is Life (extract) Featuring Eileen Kramer Produced by Eleanor McDowallYou belong to the land, and the land belongs to you Featuring Alice Starmore Interview and music by Col Gordon Produced by Katie Revell This interview originally appeared in the Farmerama series 'Landed'My Flamenco Ancestor Produced by Yinka Esi Graves and Carys Wall Inspired by the documentary Gurumbe: Afro-Andalusian Memories by Miguel Ángel RosalesCuratorial team: Alia Cassam and Andrea Rangecroft Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall Executive Producer: Axel Kacoutié A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4