Category: Uncategorised

From the mouths of babes and drunkards, you will learn the truth… One day before Christmas, 10 year old Aurora gets into conversation with Oddbjørn, a former actor who now spends his time drinking on the street. They talk about life, death and sweethearts as he prepares to read the Christmas gospel in church.

From the Mouths of Babes and Drunkards was nominated for the Prix Europa in 2016. It was produced by Kristin Heien, with technical direction from Merete Antonsen and coaching from Berit Hedemann.

Kristin Heien lives in Bergen, Norway. She is a director and scriptwriter at Pandora Film and a former journalist at NRK, the Norwegian Broadcast Company. Educated in film and TV production with a Bachelor of the Arts from the University of Bergen. As an independent, she has produced several documentaries for the NRK. 

On January 20, 2009, a woman and her two young daughters were found dead in their small apartment in the St. Pierre district of Marseille. The tragedy made the national news for a few hours. Working at the time on various radio programs coproduced by Radio‐Grenouille and ARTE Radio, three reporters from both teams decided to investigate. They went to meet people in the neighbourhood, family, school and community, who might have known Lolita and why she died. Six months of investigation resulted in Who Killed Lolita? (Or Qui a connu Lolita? in its original title) – an audio portrait of the negative space around the body of Lolita and her two children.

Who Killed Lolita? is part of our ongoing series of collaborations with RadioDoc Review – we’re featuring one of their articles on Who Killed Lolita? written by the radio producer Chris Brookes.

Who Killed Lolita? · RadioDoc Review

Who Killed Lolita? was a production for ARTE Radio and Radio‐Grenouille. The authors were Anouk Batard, Mehdi Ahoudig, Olivier Apprill, directed by Mehdi Ahoudig and the mix was by Samuel Hirsch. It won the Prix Europa for Best Radio Documentary in 2010.

Mehdi Ahoudig, author, sound director and filmmaker, creates soundtracks for theatre and dance companies and teaches radio documentary. A regular contributor to ARTE Radio, he has won the Prix Europa three times.

Claire lives in her house on an island in Canada. She’s 87 years old and searching for love. A couple of years ago, she signed up to a dating agency. But there’s one problem – there are no men. Or as Claire puts it, ‘The men are either sick or dead.’

Claire writes a column in the newspaper about her loneliness and hopeless search for a relationship. By chance, Brit comes across it and an idea begins to take form. In fact it’s not just an idea but a grand plan about how Claire may finally find love.

Brit Jensen (born 1980) is a Danish radio documentary maker based in the Czech Republic. She has produced work for Danish, Czech and AustraIian radio. Currently she is working for Czech national radio on a new, short form documentary show. The Grand Plan was nominated for 2016’s Prix Europa.

The story of two young men who lived in Viborg, a small town in Denmark, both with the same name – Thomas Andersen.  They had never met until one night in October, thirteen years ago, when one Thomas Andersen ended up trying to run over the other one in his car. One Thomas ended up in a coma, with no memory of the night. In this documentary he returns to Viborg to shed light on the darkness of the past – and to find Thomas Andersen again.

The Double is among the winners of the 2016 Third Coast/Richard H. Driehaus Competition

Thomas Arent Andersen was born on December 22, 1983, in Viborg, Denmark. He is a graduate of The National Film School of Denmark and has worked professionally with audio and sound design on documentaries and feature films since 2008. In November 2015 Thomas debuted as a podcast producer with his own personal story, The Double.

In 2016 Thomas produced another podcast for Third Ear about a former Danish police officer gone rogue and is currently working on several new documentaries.

You can hear more from Third Ear on Radio Atlas here.

This podcast was made in collaboration with the Danish newspaper Politiken.

Maartje Duin‘s father has Alzheimer’s disease. As his memories fade, she is left with questions about his work as an astronomer in the 1970s. Together, they visit his old workplace, the Leiden Observatory.

Maartje Duin (1975) is an independent journalist and radio producer whose work is characterised by her personal tone of voice. She started out in public radio as a regular contributor to the VPRO series 1Minuut/OneMinute (Prix Europa 2008) and 1Minuutje/One Minute Small (Prix Europa 2012). She also curates listening events in the Netherlands and abroad.

My Dad, the Supernova was produced for a listening event about memory by Grenzeloos Geluid (NL) and In The Dark (BE), with support from the Dutch Cultural Media Fund & Flemish-Dutch House deBuren. It was broadcast by Woord (VPRO) on Dutch public radio on October 22, 2015.

Using material recorded in 2001, while Cófreces was working at an alternative radio station in Buenos Aires, intercut with fragments of songs, political speeches and the voices of comedians.

First broadcast on FM La Tribu in 2005, ‘Robbery’ won the second prize in the feature category at the Bienal de Radio Mexico in 2006 as well as the EBU’s Ake Blomstrom award.

Joaquín Cófreces is a sound artist and feature maker from Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. His work has received prizes at the Phonurgia Nova, the International Radio Festival in Iran and the Premio Radio Sin Limites.

You can read an interview with Joaquín Cófreces on the blog EarRelevant.

In the hard-won solitude of Hong Kong’s urban bustle, a young woman stands before a long row of buildings so tall and so wide that the mountains beyond are completely concealed. But in the middle of this block, a huge opening has been left, a square hole eight storeys high and several dwellings wide. The people left this gap here, her father used to tell her, so that the dragon living in the ancient hillside forest could still fly out to sea. Sometimes she still dreams of him.

Produced by Jens Jarisch. Initially broadcast on Bayerischer Rundfunk in 2009.

Original music composed by Phillip Bellinger. Readings by Dorit Blau and Jens Jarisch. This feature won the Grand Prix Marulic in a slightly shortened form in 2009.

You can read an interview with Jens Jarisch about this feature on the Third Coast website.

They have been living together for thirty years – the Lady of Lengenfeld Castle (b. 1925) and her housekeeper (b. 1920). Quite alone in 600 square metres of space. Although this doesn’t mean that the two women address one another in the intimate ‘you’ form; only in the heat of an argument do they ever forget the polite ‘you’. And the arguments are unquestionably frequent, for both the former artist Christa Hauer-Fruhmann and Maria Moser, who was once a mere farm labourer, have learnt to come out on top in life.

The author Eva Roither together with sound-engineer Martin Leitner visited the ladies over a period of several years and recorded scenes from an unusual relationship.

Produced for the Feature Department of the ORF (Austrian Radio and Television), radio channel Ö1. Winner of the Prix Europa, 2011 and the feature-award at Stiftung Radio Basel.

Eva Roither (born 1969) studied literature and dramatics at the University of Vienna and at the Institute of Theatre, Film and Media Science. She began writing for several newspapers in 1990 and since 1993 she has been working for the cultural radio channel Ö1 at ORF (Austrian Broadcasting Corporation). Author of many features on various subjects, ranging from portraits of writers to documentaries concerning social policy and human relations. She has been the co-producer of the serial feature program Hörbilder since 2004.

Martin Leitner (born 1964) has worked for ORF (Austrian Broadcast Corporation) in Vienna since 1985 as tonmeister / balance engineer in different fields – live broadcasts, music production, radio drama, feature and acoustic art. He has been involved in many prize winning feature productions at the Prix Europa, Prix Italia, New York Festivals and Stiftung Radio Basel.

Recordings: Martin Leitner and Eva Roither

Mixing: Martin Leitner

Speaker: Karl Menradt and the Author

Special Sounds: Stefan Weber

Edited by: Elisabeth Stratka

Epilogue: Maria Moser died in May 2012 and a few months later, in March 2013, Christa Hauer-Fruhmann died. The entire art collection belongs now to the Lower Austria province and will be shown in a new built museum in Krems. The castle will be renovated and there are plans to transform it into a place for artists-in-residence.

The story of 87 year old Harald Brobakken – a man who believes that he has invented an everlasting battery. From the light of the stars overhead, to the constant mysterious glow of a bulb in Harald’s apartment, Sindre Leganger’s documentary explores ideas of invention, love and imagination with extraordinary tenderness.

Sindre Leganger (b. 1987) is an independent producer from Norway. He makes documentaries both for national and international audiences, such as ‘The Last Act‘ (NRK, 2016) and ‘Wood Fighting With Steel‘ (Love + Radio, 2016).

Still Glowing Strong received a Special Commendation at the Prix Europa in 2014. It was edited by Erki Halvorsen and coached by Kari Hesthamar.

In the first of a series of collaborations with the journal RadioDoc Review we’re featuring one of their articles on Still Glowing Strong, written by the radio producer Anna Elisabeth (Lisbeth) Jessen.

Still Glowing Strong · RadioDoc Review

Matthias Hellemans attempts to find intimacy through a telephone directory service.

Matthias Hellemans created this piece while studying at the Koninklijk Conservatorium Antwerpen.